Irish prices higher than official figures suggest, say surveyors

The monthly increase follows a dip of 0.5 per cent in March 2013 and marks a decline in annual price decreases, with prices down 1.2 per cent compared to April 2012 - a lower year-on-year drop than February 2013’s fall of 3 per cent and, indeed, April 2012’s fall of 16.4 per cent.

This slowing annual decrease suggests an optimistic outlook for the property market in Ireland following the country’s financial crash. Indeed, residential property prices in Dublin grew 0.2 per cent in April and are now 1 per cent higher than one year ago.

Overall, Irish residential property values increased by 1.2 per cent in April - compared to a 2 per cent decline in April 201. Despite the positive signs, Dublin house prices remain 55 per cent below the market pea k in 2007.

The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland welcomed the report from the CSO, agreeing that the data suggests an emerging stability in the market, but argued that the mortgage draw downs data was “crude” and failed to take into account cash sales. As a result, the data is not fully representative of the current conditions, with prices expected to be higher than the CSO claims.

Simon Stokes, the Chairman of the Residential Property Group of the SCSI , wrote on the Surveyors blog: “While all of the data on the property market is helpful, the average property price increases and decreases are not fully representative of all of the transactions in the market and therefore cannot provide a full and current assessment of property prices. For example, while the CSO figures suggest a 1 per cent increase in residential property prices in Dublin, it is our experience that demand for family homes in good condition in well established areas has pushed prices higher than 1 per cent and as such, a broad average figure is no longer reflective of the heterogeneous nature of residential properties.”