Estate agent Douglas Newman Good says Dublin house prices will rise by 10-12% this year. It says that its price survey shows that the Central Bank is wrong in its contention last week that the property market is weakening.
DNG's latest quarterly survey shows that house prices rose by 4.7% in Dublin in the first three months of the year, and have risen 19.2% in the last 12 months.
DNG economist Paul Murgatroyd says that despite warnings of price bubbles and potential crashes, house price growth of 10-12% this year is realistic - assuming there is no massive escalation of the conflict in Iraq.
Last week the Central Bank warned that prices could fall slightly this year, and EBS Building Society has said there could be no increase this year.
According to DNG, the average price of a house in Dublin is €325,000, up from €310,000 in the previous quarter.
DNG senior partner Keith Lowe said that despite recent commentaries from the Central Bank stating that the market is softening, the factual results from the DNG survey proves that this is 'quite obviously far from the case'.
He said low levels of supply of second homes, and the low interest rate environment will see a continuation of price rises.
