Property prices in Ireland showed no sign of the traditional winter slowdown, recording a rise of 11.6% in the 12 months to the end of November 2017, official figures show.
The data from the Central Statistics Office also shows that this was much higher than the 9.2% recorded in the 12 months to November 2016. Prices were up 1.1% month on month with one analyst calling the growth ‘sharp’.
A breakdown of the figures show that prices increased by 11.3% in Dublin with apartments up 11.8%. The highest growth was 13.3% in Dublin City and the lowest was 10.8% in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown.
In the rest of Ireland prices were 11.7% higher in the year to November. House prices were up 11.6% and apartment prices up 13.2%. The West region recorded the biggest growth with house prices up 16% and the lowest was a rise of 8.9% in the Mid-West.
Overall, the national index is 23.1% lower than its highest level in 2007. Dublin prices are 24.1% lower than their February 2007 peak, while prices in the rest of Ireland are 29.2% lower than their May 2007 peak.
It means that from the trough in early 2013, prices nationally have increased by 71.6%. Dublin prices have increased 88.1% from their February 2012 low, whilst prices in the rest of Ireland are 62.8% higher than the trough which was in May 2013.
The figures also shows that in the 12 months to November, the median price paid was €224,000. The Dublin region had the highest median price at €345,000 and the highest overall price was Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at €520,000 with the lowest €310,274 in Fingal.
Outside of Dublin the highest median prices were in Wicklow at €300,000 and Kildare at €270,000 while the lowest were in Longford at €84,500 and Roscommon at €87,500.
Davy analyst Conall MacCoille described the 1.1% rise in prices in November as ‘sharp’ and suggest that there was still no sign of the usual seasonal slowdown during the winter with double digit annual growth across all regions except the Mid-West.
However, he predicted that house price growth would slow in 2018 as the Central Bank’s lending rules restrict the drawdown of mortgages.
However, Merrion analyst Alan McQuaid said prices would only move one way in the short term because of the supply issue.
