Property price inflation falls to 7.1% as market cools

Property prices are rising by just 7.1 per cent, the lowest level in more than 2½ years, suggesting the gradual pick-up in housing supply may be cooling the market.

The latest official figures show prices nationally actually fell by 0.5 per cent in November. They also show that property prices in Dublin, where supply pressures are most acute, are now climbing by 5 per cent over the past year. This compares to an annualised rate of 11.3 per cent just 12 months ago.

The highest house price growth in Dublin was in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at 6.8 per cent, with the lowest growth in Fingal at 3.9 per cent.

Outside Dublin, prices were rising fastest in the MidWest at 20.7 per cent. At the other end of the scale, the most modest increases were recorded in the Border region at 6.1 per cent.

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The figures show the national median or middle price paid for a residential property in the current market was €245,000.

Dublin was the region with the highest median price (€365,000) in the year to November. And within the capital, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest median price of the four Dublin administrative areas, at €535,000.

Outside Dublin

The highest median prices outside Dublin were in Wicklow (€315,500) and Kildare (€290,000), while the lowest were €96,000 in Longford and €100,000 in Leitrim.

Since the low point of the crash in early 2013, property prices nationally have increased by 83 per cent. In Dublin, the recovery has been even stronger, with prices up 96 per cent from their February 2012 low.

After a post-crash lull, residential construction has picked up again. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) expects a total of 18,500 new dwellings to have been completed last year, rising to 23,000 in 2019.

‘Positive territory’

“As we wait for more houses to be built, residential property prices will continue to rise, although there is now clear evidence that house price growth has started to ease, especially in Dublin,” Merrion Capital analyst Alan McQuaid said. “Still, we see house price growth staying in positive territory on a year-on-year basis for a while yet.

“The biggest rise is likely to come from outside the capital, with the asking price for houses in more expensive areas increasing at a slower rate,” he added.