Irish house prices rise 15 times above eurozone average

House prices in Ireland increased 15 times more than the eurozone average in the final quarter of last year when compared to the corresponding period in 2013, and the trend is set to continue, according to the latest analysis.

While the rate of growth had slowed a little towards the end of 2014, Ireland had the highest quarterly increase in the EU at a national average 16.5% compared to the same period the previous year, according to Eurostat, the EU’s statistics body.

The average house price increase in the eurozone was 1.1%, while it was 2.6% in the EU as a whole, driven by non-euro countries including Britain and Sweden.