Dublin house prices are on a trend towards stabilisation, however, Government and Central Bank need to exercise care in their interventions so as not to undermine the fragile property market. Dublin property prices continue to increase, albeit at more moderate levels, with a 4.8% increase in the price of an average residential property in the capital in the third quarter of 2014. This means that house prices in the Greater Dublin Area have risen by just short of 18% in the first 9 months of this year or by an average of 2% per month. Year on year the annual percentage increase is recorded at 24.2%.

It is comforting to see that for the first time since the start of the economic crisis residential property prices are now less than 50% lower than the peak in Quarter 3, 2006 particularly for those caught in the negative equity trap, and that this trend is set to continue. Equally, if not, more importantly, it is also reassuring that the levels of price growth in the capital have moderated somewhat for a second consecutive quarter from a high of 8.9% in Q1, 2014, 5.9% in Quarter2 to 4.8% this quarter.