Steady improvement in property prices in Ireland, latest data shows

Residential property prices in Ireland have increased nationally by 6.1% in the year to October, signalling a steady improvement, according to data from the Central Statistical Office.

This compares with an increase of 3.6% in September and a decrease of 8.1% recorded in the 12 months to October 2012 showing that the recovery is moving forward.

Residential property prices grew by 1.8% in the month of October. The same increase was recorded in the previous month and a decrease of 0.6% was recorded in October of last year.
In Dublin residential property prices grew by 2.3% in October and were 15% higher than a year ago. Dublin house prices grew by 2% in the month and were 14.6% higher compared to a year earlier. Dublin apartment prices were 18% higher when compared with the same month of 2012.
However, a CSO spokesman said that it should be noted that the sub-indices for apartments are based on low volumes of observed transactions and consequently suffer from greater volatility than other series.

The price of residential properties in the rest of Ireland rose by 1.5% in October compared with a decrease of 0.9% in October last year. Prices were 0.3% lower than in October 2012.

Although prices are now moving upwards there is still some way to go before they recover from the economic downturn. For example, house prices in Dublin are 48% lower than at their highest level in early 2007. Apartments in Dublin are 56% lower than they were in February 2007. Residential property prices in Dublin are 50% lower than at their highest level in February 2007.

The fall in the price of residential properties in the rest of Ireland is somewhat lower at 47%. Overall, the national index is 47% lower than its highest level in 2007.

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