Ireland's Property Prices Jumped By 11% During 2006 Says Permanent TSB / ESRI
House prices in Ireland rose by 11.8% during 2006, according to the latest house price index produced by Permanent TSB / ESRI - up from 9.3% in 2005.
However, the survey points to significant cooling in the Irish property market in the seconfd half of 2006, as well as differences in the rate of growth witnessed inside and outside of the capital city, Dublin.
Dividing the year into two shows that the rate of house price growth in the second half of the year was just 3.8%, compared to 8.0% in the first half. And looking specifically at December, the price of houses nationally rose by just 0.1% during the month, unchanged from November 2006. Indeed, outside of Dublin, prices fell very slightly for the second month in a row.
The average price paid for a house nationally in December 2006 was €310,632 - up almost €33,000 on December 2005 (€277,852).
On a county by county analysis, prices rose by an average of 15.9% in Dublin City and County and an average rise of just 6% for houses in Co. Sligo over the course of the year. The index also reveals that County Leitrim set the pace for price growth during the year, with a rise in prices of 29%, althoughgiven that the sample size for houses sold in Leitrim was low during the year, this figure should be treated with some element of caution.
"While the rate of growth for the year as a whole was very significant, the key insight from these figures is that the rate of growth moderated sharply during the year and that pattern is likely to dominate for the year ahead," said Niall O'Grady, Head of Marketing, Permanent TSB Bank. "Our expectations for average price growth this year are between 3% and 6% - although we do expect that there will be significantly different experiences in different sectors of the market."
The most expensive place to buy a house in Dublin? Not surprisingly, Dublin, Cork City and the surrounding commuter counties of Wicklow, Kildare and Meath. The average price of a house in Dublin is just under €430,000, while Cork City has an average price of just under €350,000.
Donegal is the least expensive county in which to purchase a house, with prices averaging around €225,000.
filed: 30 January 2007
