House prices up by 1% in quarter

THE Permanent TSB and the ESRI house price survey for the first quarter of this year show the lowest rise since the survey began.

An increase in house prices of just 1% was recorded suggesting that a growth figure of 5% in the year 2005 was on the cards, said Niall O’Grady, head of marketing Permanent TSB Bank.

“While there are some significant variations within the different sectors of the housing market, the overall picture this year is one of consistently modest price rises resulting in the lowest level of national price growth in a quarter in nine years of researching these figures,” he said.