Asking prices for properties showed signs of recovery in the first three months of this year before the onset of coronavrus restrictions.

According to the latest report from the property website MyHome.ie, in association with Davy, asking prices - which they track as opposed to transaction prices - rose by almost 2% nationally.

Asking price inflation in Dublin came in at 1.5%.

On an annualised basis, the Brexit-related weakness in the market from last year begins to show through with asking prices nationally increasing by 0.7%. In Dublin, there was a very marginal increase in asking prices in the year.

The report author, Davy chief economist Conall MacCoille, said the Covid-19 outbreak, as well as the measures to contain it, would likely kill off any "green shoots" we've seen so far this year.

"We saw a bit of a rebound in early 2020 in prices and transactions. Clearly, that's not going to last," he said.

"New listings on Myhome are down 50% on the same time last year. That's only going to get worse. There may in fact be no transactions whatsoever, apart from a few forced sellers."

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On the upside, analysis of the Chinese property market shows that the market there bounced back pretty quickly there after an initial hard shock from the coronavirus.

"In China, social restrictions are being relaxed. There was zero sales for three weeks. Two and half months on, transaction levels are back at 50% of what they would have seen over the last couple of years," Mr MacCoille explained.

"There's some recovery, but it's taking time."

He pointed out that banks here are being a little tighter in their vetting procedures and they were tightening the criteria under which they were approving mortgages.

The Myhome.ie report found that the average asking price for a property across the state stood at €273,000.

The average price in Dublin was €380,000 while outside of the capital, the average stood at €226,000.