Doubts rise over home buyer grants as house prices shoot up

Further doubts have been cast over the wisdom of Government plans to grant-aid first-time buyers as two more reports show house prices continuing to shoot up even without buyers having extra money to bid with.

A new Daft.ie survey records a 7.6% increase in house prices nationally in the past 12 months, while the latest Myhome.ie prediction to the end of this year is for prices to have risen by 5% over the course of 2016.

That means house prices are rising at three to four times the rate of inflation, with both buyers and market observers predicting another 5% increase next year.