S&P forecasts Irish house prices to rise 5% this year

Home prices here will rise at a modest rate for the next two years, Standard & Poor’s has predicted, as the Central Bank lending rules, home shortages, high household debt, and relatively high mortgage rates weigh on the market.

Prices will rise 5% this year — down from the 6.6% expansion last year and sharply lower from the huge 16.2% jump in prices recorded in 2014, the ratings agency said in its Europe-wide housing report.

Irish home prices will then rise 4% in 2017.