Capital rise but house prices fall outside Dublin

House prices outside of Dublin continue to bounce along the floor of the market despite pressures in the capital driving the national average to its highest point in three years.

The latest figures from the CSO show that in April house prices in 25 counties fell marginally.

This left the average at their lowest level since last September, similar to the basement level they hit in mid-2012.

Meanwhile, in Dublin pent up demand and a diminishing supply of houses and apartments saw prices rise by 17% compared to the figures for the same point in 2013.

The frenzy that has been reported in Dublin since the latter half of last year has not registered on the national picture despite anecdotal accounts of people moving further out the commuter belt to find suitably sized homes.

In April the CSO said the average prices in the rest of the county actually dropped.

“The price of residential properties in the Rest of Ireland, excluding Dublin, fell by 0.3% in April compared with a increase of 1.2% in April of last year,” it said.

This has continued a two-year trend.

Since April 2012 the national market has risen by a maximum of 2% and fallen by a maximum of 2.1%, but the entire time it stayed within the same 3% margin at the very bottom of the market.

Over the same period prices in Dublin have risen by 18%.

Director of Policy at the Society of Chartered Surveyors Conor O’Donovan said not enough houses were being built to temper the market in Dublin and this needed to be addressed.

“The SCSI does not want to see a return to the unchecked price inflation we saw over a decade ago and neither do we want to see a continuation of the current house price volatility. We need to ensure more certainty in the economy,” he said.

The CSO figures only record sales that are funded by mortgages, and the data is taken directly from the banks. So it does not include the figures paid by people who use cash.

But in an explanation note, the CSO said it was looking at ways to see how much of the housing market involves non-mortgage deals.

“The CSO is currently examining stamp duty returns to the Revenue Commissioners, made via the Revenue Online Service (ROS), with a view to assessing both the extent of cash-based full market price transactions and any potential bias in the RPPI that might accrue from their exclusion.”