Residential property prices rose by 6.5 per cent in the 12 months to March, but that represented the slowest rate of growth in more than two years, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.
The rate of growth slowed from the 6.7 per cent in the year to February. It was 5.7 per cent in Dublin, while property prices outside Dublin were 7.2 per cent higher.
The annual increase in prices nationally represents the lowest since February 2024 when they grew by 6.2 per cent.
Commenting on the data, Brokers Ireland deputy chief executive Rachel McGovern said the slowing growth rate pointed towards consumer caution, given concerns around inflation.
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However, “respite from high prices would not appear to be on the horizon, given the fact that demand is still way out of sync with supply, and the risk of rising inflation further hampering supply”, she said.
House prices in Dublin rose by 5.1 per cent while apartments increased by 7.8 per cent. The highest house price growth in the capital was in Dublin city at 6 per cent while Fingal saw a rise of 3.4 per cent.
Outside of Dublin, house prices were up by 6.8 per cent and apartment prices rose by 12 per cent.
The region outside of Dublin that recorded the highest growth in house prices was the midlands area – Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath – at 13.4 per cent. At the other end of the scale, the southwest region of Cork and Kerry saw a rise of 3.6 per cent.
Households paid a median or midpoint price of €390,461 for a home in the 12 months to March. The highest median price paid was €685,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, while the lowest was €200,000 in both Donegal and Longford.
Kate English, chief economist at Deloitte Ireland, said progress was “being made”, with completions of new homes reaching 38,191 units in the 12 months to the first quarter. Construction started on 8,408 units in the first quarter, which was more than the first seven months of last year combined.
“Zoning more land was one of the critical announcements made last year,” she said.
“At the start of May, the County and City Management Association confirmed that all 31 local authorities have commenced work on zoning additional land for housing and estimate. Approximately 15,102 hectares of residentially zoned land will sit within statutory development plans nationally, providing capacity for approximately 528,000 units.”
Irish Mortgage Advisors chairman, Trevor Grant said the easing in the rate of price increases was “good news” for would-be house buyers.
“If this momentum in house building continues, house price inflation should continue to ease and homes should hopefully become more affordable for the many who have been priced out of the market so far,” he said.
“With the Middle East crisis rumbling on and soaring energy costs continuing to push up inflation in the euro zone, an ECB rate hike this June is all but inevitable. So, would-be house buyers need to be mindful of the potential for increased mortgage borrowing costs this year – and to factor that into any mortgage decision they make.”
He added that house buyers also need to be mindful of the possible knock-on impact of the Middle East crisis on prices.
“Recent and ongoing surge in oil prices could drive building materials inflation even higher and, in turn, further push up house building costs and Irish house prices,” he said.
The most expensive Eircode area over the 12 months was A94 (Blackrock, Dublin) with a median price of €845,000, while F45 (Castlerea, Roscommon) had the lowest median price of €150,500.
Some 4,123 purchases of properties by households were filed with Revenue, an increase of 14 per cent when compared with the 3,617 deals in March 2025.
The total value of transactions filed in March was €1.8 billion. This was made up of 3,131 existing properties with a value of €1.32 billion, and 992 new homes with a value of €477.1 million.
