Property prices in Ireland increased by 7.9% in the year to January 2017, well above the 5.6% recorded in the previous 12 month period, the latest official figures show.
Prices have been rising more outside of Dublin, with an increase of 11.3% year on year, according to the data from Central Statistics Office (CSO) with the highest increase in the west of the country at 18.8%.
Outside the capital house prices increased by 11.2% and apartments by 15.7%. The lowest level of price growth was in the Mid East of the country with house prices rising by 8.9%.
In Dublin prices increased by 5.3% year on year with the highest rise in south Dublin at 6.8% and the lowest in Fingal at 2.9%. House prices were up 4.9% and apartments up 9.1%
Since the bottom of the housing market in early 2013 prices have now increased by 49.6% with pries in Dublin up 65.2% and the rest of Ireland up 45.9%. The average price is now €242,586.
However, the national index is 31.8% lower than its highest level in 2007. Dublin property prices are 32.4% lower than their February 2007 peak, while property prices in the rest of Ireland are 36.6% lower than their May 2007 peak.
The data also shows that compared to January 2016, the volume of new home purchases increased 2.8% and the volume of existing dwelling purchases increased by 6.4%
A breakdown of the figures show that the average price paid for a home in Dublin was €394,059. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was the most expensive, with an average price of €551,239 over the 12 month period. South Dublin was the least expensive with an average price of €311,584.
After Dublin, the next most expensive region was the Mid-East where the average price paid by households was €242,462 and within that County Wicklow was most expensive with an average price of €312,744, making it the second most expensive county after Dublin.
The least expensive homes were in the Border region with an average price of €113,730. However, the least expensive County was Longford in the Midland region with an average price of €87,647.
According to Davy Stockbrokers the Help to Buy scheme and looser Central Bank lending rules have added impetus to the market. They estimate that residential sales were up 11% in January and February and mortgage approvals up 60% in January compared to the same month in 2016.
