House prices set to rise at slower rate

CENTRAL Bank vigilance on lending for house purchase has been fully backed by a leading estate agent as fears over a house price bubble grows.

That fear was added to yesterday when the PermanentTSB index showed price increases continuing to ease for Irish homes.

House price increases in January and February were under 1% in each case, against a monthly average of 1.2% during the six months to December 2002.