House prices to rise as apartment demand soars

House prices will continue to rise in the short term as demand outstrips supply, but more moderate price hikes are predicted for the years ahead, according to the latest Daft.ie report. A challenge for policy-makers will be to meet a huge need for urban apartments.

Report author Ronan Lyons, an economist at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), said three big-picture trends will define housing demand into the future and will lead to a huge need for urban apartments, not houses.

These include the growth in the population, especially over-50s; urbanisation; and falling household size.