THE COST OF buying a home is still climbing, but it’s apartments that are seeing some of the sharpest increases.

Data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows residential property prices increased by 7% in the year to January, a slight uptick from the previous month.

The median price of a home is now €389,986, up by around €30,000 compared to the same period last year.

The median house price nationally is now more than seven times more than the median salary, rising to more than nine times the median salary for those seeking to buy a home in the capital.

Dublin remains the most expensive part of the country to buy a home, with a median price of €500,000.

While prices are rising across the board, one of the more notable trends is the pace of growth in apartments. Apartment prices increased by 9.1% nationally, and by 12.3% outside Dublin, compared to a 6.6% rise in house prices overall.

Price growth was also stronger outside the capital. Property prices rose by 7.7% across the rest of the country, compared to a 6.1% increase in Dublin.

Within Dublin, house prices rose by 5.6% while apartment prices increased by 7.8%. The highest house price growth in the capital was in Dublin City at 8%, while Fingal saw a smaller increase of 3.8%.

Outside Dublin, house prices were up 7.3%, with the Midlands region seeing the sharpest growth at 15.9%. At the other end of the scale, the Mid-West recorded a 5.6% increase.

Within Dublin, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest median price at €680,000, while Fingal and Dublin City were both at €475,000.

Outside Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare were among the most expensive areas, with median prices of €455,000 and €440,040 respectively.

Donegal remained the least expensive county, with a median property price of €195,000.

At a more local level, the most expensive Eircode area was A94 in Blackrock, where the median price reached €840,000.

At the other end of the scale, Castlerea in Roscommon had a median price of €153,000.

There were 3,781 dwelling purchases recorded in January, with a total value of €1.66 billion. This included 2,686 existing homes and 1,095 new builds.

Revenue data also shows there were 1,566 first-time buyer purchases during the month.

Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said the figures show prices continuing their “relentless upward rise”, and claimed government policy is contributing to sharper increases in apartment prices.

“As always, the big losers are those people desperate to buy their home and new renters facing even higher rip off rents,” Ó Broin said.

“We warned the Government that this would happen, but they refused to listen.”

Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne said the latest data highlights the growing gap between house prices and incomes, arguing that many workers are being priced out of the market.

“How is any average income worker supposed to be able to afford a home at these prices?” Hearne said.

“The government has failed to address the underlying causes of rising house prices – a perfect storm of diminishing supply of homes and lack of affordability.”