Residential property prices in Ireland increased by 12.4% in the year to May 2018 but the growth appears to be slowing slightly in Dublin, the latest official figures show.
Prices increased by 10.7% in Dublin with higher annual growth of 14.1% in the rest of Ireland, according to the date published by the Central Statistics Office.
In Dublin house prices increased by 10.3% and apartment prices were up by 13.5%. The highest house price growth was in Dublin City at 14.6% and the lowest growth was in South Dublin, where house prices increased 6.6%.
In the rest of the country house prices increased by 13.7% and apartment prices by 15.5%. The biggest growth was in the Mid-West region with a rise of 22.1% while the lowest was in the Border region prices u just 3.7%.
Overall, the national index is still 20.4% lower than its highest level in 2007. Dublin prices are 22.5% lower than their February 2007 peak, while those in the rest of Ireland are 25.5% lower than their May 2007 peak.
From the trough in early 2013, prices nationally have increased by 77.7%. In Dublin prices have increased 91.9% from their February 2012 low, whilst prices in the rest of Ireland are 71.4% higher than the trough of May 2013.
The data also shows that in the 12 months to May, the median price paid was €235,000. The highest was €359,000 in Dublin. Of the four administrative areas of Dublin, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest median price at €528,500 and Fingal the lowest at €315,000.
Outside Dublin, the highest median prices were in Wicklow at €310,000 and Kildare at €277,250 while the lowest median price was in Longford at €91,000 and then Leitrim and Roscommon, both at €95,000.
The slowdown in Dublin is set to continue, according to property firm Savills. It is predicting that house price growth could fall to about 8% by the end of the year as an increase in the supply of new homes affects the market.
Sean O’Malley, Savills senior economist, pointed out that housing completions were up 46% in 2017 and growth continued in the first quarter in 2018, up 27% year on year.
‘While the market clearly remains undersupplied, increased construction activity is slowly bridging the gap between demand and supply. The impact of this will be to gradually moderate the rate of house price growth,’ he said.
