Sir, – Cliff Taylor discusses many novel factors impacting property prices, such as Covid-induced relocations, investor fund activity, local authority purchases and so on, but fails entirely to mention the most obvious traditional factor – inflation ("Will the price of houses just keep on rising?", Business, Opinion, February 17th).
With a steady, moderate annual inflation rate of 3.5 per cent, the price of any commodity will double after 20 years.
The average price of a house in Dublin in the year 2002 was €259,381, while in 2022 it is €506,667 – actually slightly less than double.
With any market there will be ups and downs in the short to mid-term, but a gradual overall increase over the longer term is generally accepted as normal.
So house prices appear to be very close to what one might have predicted 20 years ago.
We can check again in 2042 and see if the average is a million. – Yours, etc,
JOHN THOMPSON,
Phibsboro,
Dublin 7.