Sherry Fitzgerald has said it expects house prices to increase by 20 per cent this year, up from its earlier projection of 15 per cent.

The estate agent revised its forecast upward following the release of its quarterly barometer of house prices which showed that the average price of a second-hand house in Dublin rose by around 8.7 per cent in the first three months of 1999 compared to an increase of 17.5 per cent in the first quarter last year.

Sherry Fitzgerald economist, Ms Marian Finnegan said it seemed the short-term deceleration in the pace of house price inflation in the post-Bacon market was disappearing.