Irish house prices set to keep climbing

Irish house prices are likely to keep climbing in 2016, according to new figures from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland.

SCSI members said they expect the price of a typical three-bedroom home to increase between 4 per cent and 8 per cent this year, depending on location. Indeed, price performance in the country is varying from region to region. In Dublin, for example, price growth was racing ahead in 2014 by 19.5 per cent, but that slowed in 2015 to 4.8 per cent - below the 8.8 per cent national growth.

In Leinster, on the other hand, values are estimated to have risen 9.4 per cent, while in Munster and Connacht/Ulster, they rose 10.4 per cent and 8.8 per cent respectively.

The SCSI attributes Dublin's dampened growth to the Central Bank's lending rules, causing price rises to be pushed into surrounding counties.