House prices drop outside capital

Irish property prices rose by 7.4 per cent in the year to March, figures published by the Central Statistics Office, with growth still strongest outside the capital. However, a fall in prices outside of Dublin in the month of March suggest that the recovery may be softening somewhat.

Nationally, property prices rose by 7.4 per cent in the twelve months to March 2016, figures show, with the rate of growth slowing from an increase of 16.8 per cent in the same period to March 2015.

Prices rose by 0.3 per cent in the month of March, compared with no change in February, and an increase of 0.9 per cent recorded in March of last year.

When Dublin is excluded however, the index shows stronger price growth, with property prices outside the capital surging ahead by 10.5 per cent in the year to March. However, prices outside of Dublin actually fell by 0.2 per cent in the month of March, softening annual growth from 11.5 per cent in February. This is the first monthly decrease for prices outside the capital since January 2015.