Home loan costs continuing to rise in the capital

The annual cost of a mortgage for first time buyers has risen again in Dublin but remains stable outside of the capital, according to the latest EBS/DKM quarterly affordability index.

The index measures the proportion of after tax income required by a first time buyer to purchase a house.

It shows that the national affordability level remains stable at 19.3 per cent of net income for a working couple buying the average property.

While it is expected that affordability levels will rise to 19.6 per cent this month, it is still somewhat below the peak level of more than 26 per cent of net income, which was recorded during the boom.

In Dublin however, the average working couple requires just over 24 per cent of their net income to fund their mortgage. This is due to the impact of rising prices in the capital which rose by 13.7 per cent in the latter half of 2013.

The average price of a home in Dublin is now €234,500, according to the index.

Outside of the capital, affordability levels have remained relatively stable at 16.7 per cent. This is largely as a result of house prices being around 33 per cent lower than in Dublin with the average cost of a house coming in at €155,000.

"With property prices recovering in Dublin and other selected locations, confidence is beginning to return to the market. However a number of counties are a long way from the recovery phase," said DKM consultant Annette Hughes.

Elsewhere, the latest AIB/ESRI Housing Market Index indicates that a majority of consumers believe that now is a good time to buy are wary of doing so.

The index, which is a measure of the perception consumers have in relation to property prices, weakened to 103.1 in March from 104.4 at the end of December. This suggests that consumers are less positive about the market than they were.

According to the index, the percentage of people who believe house prices will be higher next year has fallen from 50 per cent to 43 per cent.

ESRI economist David Duffy attributed the decline in sentiment to the weakening in house prices seen at the beginning of 2014.