The Society of Chartered Surveyors’ of Ireland’s (SCSI) Annual Review and Outlook always makes interesting reading. 

The price of a three-bed semi will rise by 9.4% nationally this year, helped by the Government’s ‘help to buy’ scheme and looser Central Bank lending rules, say the country’s chartered surveyors.

Just 15% of people believe they will be able to afford a mortgage under Central Bank proposals that would require applicants to save a 20% deposit.

There is enough land zoned and potentially available in Dublin to provide housing for 269,000 people, although the planning permission system is acting as a constraint on the number of units being released on the market.