House prices - Glimmer of hope for homebuyers

THE bullish property market report from Bank of Ireland (BoI) showing the supply of new homes will this year meet demand for the first time in a decade is good news indeed.

For homebuyers this means that, as supply and demand come into line, the inexorably rising graph of house prices should taper off significantly.

However, the bad news is that despite this welcome prediction of a changing market trend, the actual price of houses is not going to come down. If anything, it is a money-on bet that house prices might never again fall here, at least for the foreseeable future.