House prices across the country have gone up by 6% in the last year.

Mortgage losses among Irish banks are showing tentative signs of stabilisation with the latest figures from the Central Bank showing the rate of increase in mortgage arrears at its lowest level since the first three months of 2011.

The National Treasury Management Agency raised €4.19bn in fresh capital for the Government yesterday through the issue of two bonds — one maturing in 2017 and the other in 2020.

Concerns have been raised over the potential of the latest EU agreement to reduce Ireland’s debt to manageable levels and pave the way for a return to sovereign bond markets in 2013.