FIRST TIME BUYERS are spending nearly ten per cent more of their income on housing in Dublin than in the rest of the country.

The average working couple spends just under a quarter (24 per cent) of their net income on housing, with buyers outside the capital stumping up 16.7 per cent of their take home pay for housing.

Outside Dublin, home buyers are paying around €155,000 for a property, which is 33 per cent less than in the capital, currently around €234,000.

While the affordability level in Dublin is significantly higher than the rest of the country, it is still some way off the peak of the housing market in December 2006 when the index was at 32.5 per cent.

The national affordability level is stable at 19.3 per cent of net income for a working couple paying for a first home, with the figure forecasted to rise to 19.6 per cent over the next month.

Report co-author Annette Hughes of DKM Economic Consultants said that supply issues are strangling the Dublin market.

“This needs to be addressed if first time buyers are to be accommodated at affordable prices. The supply issue is perhaps the single most important challenge facing the property market in 2014.”

EBS head of mortgages called the figures “generally encouraging” and added that the lender is seeing a noticeable increase in mortgage applications.

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