New Year brings growth in property prices as the number of houses for sale falls to new low
The property market grew in the first quarter of the year, new figures indicate.
After a decline in prices toward the end of 2015, the new year has brought renewed growth, according to the survey from MyHome.ie in association with economists from the Davy Group.
Asking prices for newly listed properties for sale rose by 2.1% nationally and by 0.9% in Dublin between January and March.
The author of the report, Conall MacCoille, chief economist at Davy, said a key factor supporting house prices this year would be a tighter market.
"The stock of properties listed for sale on the MyHome website in Q1 fell to a fresh low of 21,650, down 6% on the year," he said.
"Despite popular opinion, the immediate impact of the Central Bank lending rules was to make it easier to buy as sellers anticipated the slowdown in Dublin house prices and decided to bring their properties to the market in 2015.
"This won't be repeated this year while housing supply in the capital is likely to pick up less sharply through the summer months."
Mr MacCoille said he believed five-year construction goals set out by the last government were unlikely to be attained, citing ongoing political instability in the wake of the election.
"Overall, homebuilding levels look set to remain depressed for some time and while this will support Irish house prices, it will hurt activity levels," he said.
