House values surge to over €500bn

THE value of Ireland’s housing stock rose to over €500 billion last year as the property market showed no sign of any major slowdown, according to one of the country’s major mortgage providers.

A new survey by Halifax estimates that the total value of all private residences in the Republic was €516bn — an increase of 16% on the 2005 figure.

Halifax — the retail banking division of Bank of Scotland — claimed the results show that the Irish household balance sheet was in good shape with housing equity significantly outweighing mortgage debt.