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Property prices in Ireland rising, especially in Dublin, latest round of figures show

Overall property prices are now down just 1.1% compared with a year, according to the latest data from the Central Statistics Office.

This compares with an annual rate of decline of 1.2% in April and a decline of 15.3% recorded in the 12 months to May 2012.

The monthly rise of 0.3% in May compares with an increase of 0.8% recorded in April. Prices grew by 0.2% in the month of May of last year, the data also shows.

The recovery is more pronounces in Dublin where residential property prices grew by 0.5% in May and were 1.4% higher than a year ago.
 
Dublin house prices grew 0.5% in the month and were 1.3% higher compared to a year earlier while apartment prices in the city were 1.2% lower when compared with the same month of 2012.

However, it should be noted that the sub-indices for apartments are based on low volumes of observed transactions and consequently suffer from greater volatility than other series.

The price of residential properties in the rest of Ireland grew by 0.1% in May compared with an increase of 0.1% in May last year. Prices were 2.8% lower than in May 2012.

House prices still have a long way to go to get back to their peak before the economic crisis of 2007. Dublin prices are 55% lower than at their highest level in early 2007.

The fall in the price of residential properties in the Rest of Ireland is somewhat lower at 48%. Overall, the national index is 50% lower than its highest level in 2007.

Meanwhile, the latest report from property website Daft.ie found property prices in Dublin have increased 5.3% year on year with prices in the south now up by 12% in the first six months of the year. That is the fastest rate of increase since the first three months of 2007, just before the property market crashed.

Its figures suggest that prices are falling outside of Dublin and are 9% lower than they were this time last year, but the rate of decline has slowed sharply. In 2012, prices were falling by an average of 15%.

It puts the average property price at €193,000 and says that despite prices continuing to fall, the supply of properties for sale is now at its lowest level since the middle of 2007.

Daft's economist Ronan Lyons said that there is a two tier market with the Dublin market surging ahead of the rest of the country.

‘This is certainly the first time such rapid growth in asking prices has been recorded anywhere in the country for almost six years. The underlying cause is a lack of supply in the capital, while demand has steadily been rising. The number of transactions in Dublin in the six months to March was 4,300, according to the Property Price Register,’ he explained. This compares to 3,000 for the same period to March 2012 and 2,500 in the six months to March 2011.

And another report from MyHome.ie shows similar growth in the market, reporting that asking prices in Dublin have risen for the first time since 2007, up 1% compared with a year ago.

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