Warning about rate of rising house prices as figures show 13% increase
There is a warning over the pace at which house prices are rising.
CSO figures released today show they have gone up by 13% so far this year.
The largest increase was in the mid-west, where prices have risen by 19%.
Austin Hughes, Chief Economist at KBC, says action is needed to stop prices going up by so much.
"It's a case of government, Central Bank, lenders, borrowers all needing to be quite careful," said Mr Hughes.
"It's not that where we are is particularly risky. We need to build more houses, lending is actually below the norm, but we need to be careful about the pace at which prices are moving.
"The reality is that we're not building enough.
"Irish construction is among the lowest in the EU in terms of house building.
"We simply need to be delivering at least 10,000 or 15,000 more houses a year for the next three-five years in order to catch up with natural demand."
