Property prices rose sharply in November, and are expected to keep increasing this year.
Figures from the Central Statistics Office show prices across the country were up 8.6pc in the year to November. The rises were strongest outside Dublin.
The rate of increase has picked up compared with the same month in 2015, and compared with the previous month.
In the capital, prices increased by 5.9pc in the year to November.
But residential property prices in the rest of the country, when Dublin is excluded, were 12.8pc higher in the year to November, the CSO said.
The west region showed the greatest price growth, with house prices up by 16.7pc.
Strong rises countrywide were due to demand, more mortgage approvals, ongoing supply shortages and the easing of the Central Bank lending rules, according to Goodbody’s Dermot O’Leary.
Economist at Davy Stockbrokers Conall Mac Coille is now predicting prices will jump by more than 10pc across the country this year.
He said the rise of 1.5pc in the month of November alone was “enormous”.
“This all comes ahead of the Government’s Help to Buy scheme and the loosening of the Central Bank mortgage lending rules – which will surely push price inflation higher still next year,” he said.
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