Figures released today show that house price across the country rose by 11.8% last year, a faster rate than the 9.3% recorded in 2005. But the Permanent TSB/ESRI house price index also shows that prices fell in a number of categories of the market in December.
Growth slowed sharply in the second half of the year - to 3.8% compared with 8% in the first half. A breakdown showed that County Leitrim recorded the highest rate of growth in 2006 at 29%, though this was from a small sample. Dublin's rate was 15.9%, while prices increased by only 6% in Sligo.
House prices rose by 0.1% in the month of December, the same increase as in November. The average price paid for a house in the month was €310,632.
Permanent TSB's Niall O'Grady said the pattern of slower growth in the second half was likely to continue. He said he expected average price growth of 3% to 6% this year.
A breakdown of the December figures showed that Dublin house prices increased by 0.1%, but prices outside Dublin fell 0.1%. Prices for first-time buyers dropped by 0.2%, while for second-time buyers the fall was 0.1%. The annual increase for first-time buyers was 11.8%, while it was 12.2% for second-time buyers.
New house prices increased by 0.3% in December, while second-hand prices were unchanged, giving growth rates for the year of 9.6% and 10.2% respectively. .
