The price of an average home is surging by €500 a week, according to new figures from Real Estate Alliance.

Here's your lunchtime news bulletin.

The price of the average Irish home has risen by 3.5% in the first three months of the year, according to a survey carried out by an estate agents’ body.

High house prices in the capital are forcing people into longer commutes to and from work, according to a study, which shows prices in commuter counties around Dublin are being driven up as a result.

Almost one in six overseas enquiries about property in Ireland are now coming from the US.

National property prices dropped by half a per cent in November, the first decrease since last February, according to the Central Statistics Office.

Calls from one of the country’s leading estate agency groups for the Central Bank’s mortgage rules to be revisited are likely to fall on deaf ears after the finance minister signalled his support for the lending restrictions.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

Price of three-bed semi in Cork City up almost 4% in past year as new mortgage rules take effect in capital

The authors of a new report into the health of the construction sector claim the industry remains in recovery mode, despite noting a 20% annualised drop in the value of building projects commenced during the first quarter of this year.

Kerry County Council plans to spend €62m in providing 1,058 housing units in the next three years.

Irish house prices are set to rise by 9.4% this year and by a further 20% up to 2019, bringing levels close to the peak reached in 2007.

A gem of an extended house in an extraordinary coastal setting is set to make a splash both here and abroad, says Tommy Barker.

UK buyers are poised to fuel a mini property boom in parts of Ireland.

A survey this week by Real Estate Alliance indicates that the average price for an Irish three-bed semi-d is €179,981: it noted that this house type had gone up 21% in value within the past 12 months, and by 24% in Dublin.

The average price of a three-bed, semi-detached house rose by almost 22% over the past 12 months, according to national survey carried out by Real Estate Alliance.

A setting near Cork’s UCC and several hospitals, as well as sports fields, helps to pitch the home Porres, at the corner of off-radar Linaro Avenue, to family home hunters.

A new survey shows evidence of a three-tier property market in existence in Ireland.

Irish property sales to UK-based purchasers boomed in 2013 with REA members reporting a 39% increase over 2012.

The number of British-based buyers of Irish property surged by nearly 40% last year, with more than half being accounted for by retirees looking to set up home here.

CONNA, CORK €340,000

IT was billed as a cut-price sale to resuscitate the property market but anyone looking for bargain basement – or even a cheap attic or budget bedroom – was disappointed by the country’s first mega-auction.

UNLESS properties are in a bullet-proof setting, price slashing is the only way to get rid of built and unsold stock.

OVER half of all first-time buyers are now buying on their own, according to a recent national survey by the Real Estate Alliance.

CURIOSITY factor is high in the case of quirky, harbour-side homes, as evidenced by the flood of cars down to see last weekend’s featured property, the upmarket Horse Head scheme in Cork’s Passage West.

Tommy Barker on a development that’s giving a harbour town a boost

THE largest-yet new house scheme for Charleville, on the Cork-Limerick border, is being launched today.

THE coast just west of Cork harbour's mouth has come alive in the last few years, with year-round lights dotting the coastline as clear and shining evidence of the area's surge in popularity.

FINANCE Minister Brian Cowen warned of the need for prudence by borrowers in the context of the booming housing market.

THE heavy reliance of the economy on the housing market remains a huge cause for concern, economist Jim Power warned yesterday.

The Government must get tough on property cowboys by introducing minimum qualifications for auctioneers, estate agents demanded today.

THE long-lasting property boom “has the country destroyed” and few sectors have seen as much interference as the farm market.

INVESTORS are diverting resources from the residential to the commercial property sector in a move which should result in a soft landing in the residential market, according to Real Estate Alliance.

DUBLIN auctioneer Douglas Newman Good is launching a new nationwide franchise operation with the aim of knocking Sherry Fitzgerald from its number one slot.

FIRST-time buyers are now opting for 30 and even 35 year mortgages, according to Real Estate Alliance chairman, Thomas Potterton.

JUST shy of the €500,000 mark is this Tralee home with all the trimmings, in one of the town’s best locations.

A SIXTH former IAVI president, John P Younge, has joined the Real Estate Alliance - making for a heavy ‘chain gang’ presence on the week-old property alliance.