Figures released today show that house prices continued to grow strongly in February, marking the strongest start to any year since 2000.
According to the Permanent TSB/ESRI house price index, house prices overall rose by 1% in February, down slightly from 1.2% in January. Prices have risen by around 1% a month since last July.
The annual rate of growth in February picked up to 11.1% from 10.2% in January. Prices are up 2.2% in the first two months of 2006, compared with a rise of just 0.6% in the same period last year.
Permanent TSB's Niall O'Grady said the strong growth seen in the second half of last year had continued into 2006, but added that the strong economic outlook and the prospect of maturing SSIAs could be balanced by higher interest rates later in the year.
For first-time buyers, prices were up 0.9% in February, giving an annual growth rate of 13.5%. The equivalent figures for second-time buyers were 1% and 10.6%.
House prices in Dublin rose by 1.5%, while growth was 0.9% outside Dublin. The annual rates were 12.2% and 11.2% respectively. New and existing house prices both rose by 0.9% in February. Over the year, new houses were up 10.9%, while second-hand prices increased by 9.5%.
