30% rise in second-hand house prices

Second-hand house prices increased by over 30 per cent in the 12-month period to March, according to statistics published yesterday.

Nationally, second-hand house prices increased by 31 per cent, while house prices in Dublin went up by 27.3 per cent. The average price of new houses increased less rapidly, rising by 21.7 per cent nationally and by 26.2 per cent in the Dublin area.

Second-hand house price increases in Dublin would appear to have slowed towards the end of the 12-month period, climbing by only 1.2 per cent in the first three months of 1999. However, new house prices in the capital went up by 6.7 per cent in the same period.

In the first three months of this year, new house prices were 4.6 per cent up on the last quarter of 1998 on average, but they climbed by 6.7 per cent in Dublin. The average price of a new house for which loans were approved in the first quarter of 1999 was £140,749 in Dublin and £110,011 in the State as a whole. The gap between prices in Dublin and the rest of the State was narrower when it came to apartments.

The average cost of an apartment was £125,781 in the first quarter of this year, while apartment buyers in the capital could expect to pay an average of £146,553. Almost £1 billion worth of home loans were paid out in the first quarter of this year.

The number of new private houses built in the first quarter of this year was up 25 per cent on the same period last year. In all 10,594 new houses were completed in the first three months of 1999 compared to 8,572 in the corresponding period last year. The Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr Robert Molloy, said the increase was "a firm indication that the Government measures to increase housing supply are having the desired effect".

The Little Sisters of the Assumption sold its property and lands in Inchicore, Dublin, to a private developer, the order announced yesterday. The day centre for the elderly and the nursery in Ballyfermot which the order operate will be maintained.

In a statement, the Little Sisters said with the numbers of nuns declining and their age profile rising it was imperative that the property be sold so that the elderly nuns could be cared for. The convent now has a community of eight.