Irish Examiner view: Scarcity not the only rub with houses

When it comes to profoundly important purchases, such as buying a house, the room for making errors and spending more than we should unnecessarily narrows considerably

The ESRI report highlights a glaring flaw in our collective psyche which see us regularly overbid, thereby also inflating property prices, when embroiled in the bidding systems used for home buying here. Picture: iStock

Given the scale of the housing crisis and the shortage of any meaningful solution, at least in the short term, it comes as no great surprise that house prices continue to rise as demand far outweighs supply.

The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show property prices rose 6.6% in the 12 months to November, with the median home price in the same period at €384,000. It’s a depressing trend that has only been going one way — up.