House prices nationally grew by 1.7% in May, according to the latest House Price Index from Permanent TSB. This follows increases of 1% in March and 1.3% in April.
In the first five months of the year, national house prices have grown by 5.8%, the index - compiled in association with the ESRI - revealed. This compares to growth of 5.1% in the first five months of 2002.
The index said the average price paid for a house nationally in May was €217,803. The price was €190,879 the same time last year.
'So far this year we have not seen the kind of moderate in terms of price growth which we had expected to see,' commented Niall O'Grady, Head of Marketing with Permanent TSB.
'It's likely that we will now be looking at full year growth in the current year somewhere around the early teens, as against forecasts of high single digit growth made just a few months ago. While that's still a long way off the extraordinary type of growth we saw two or three years ago, it does demonstrate that the market remains surprisingly strong,' he said.
Today's survey says that Dublin house prices rose by 1.9% in May while there was growth of 1.7% for houses outside the city. The average price paid for a house in Dublin in May was €285,216, while the price for a house outside Dublin was €189,236. The equivalent prices in May 2002 were €246,275 and €169,166.
The survey also reveals that house prices for second time buyers increased by 1.5%, while prices rose by 2.3% for first time buyers in May. The average price paid by a first time buyer was €192,340 while it was €243,922 for a second time buyer. The equivalent prices in May 2002 were €168,641 and 4213,628.
