HOUSE PRICES ROSE by 6.5% in the year to March, and the median cost of a home in Ireland is now nearly €28,000 higher than it was a year ago.

The latest Residential Property Price Index from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that while prices are still climbing sharply, and the median cost of a house is standing at €390,461 nationwide, the pace of growth has slowed in recent months.

Annual inflation stood at 6.7% in February and 7.1% in January – the inflation rate in March was the lowest that the rate has been since February 2024.

Prices in Dublin rose by 5.7% over the year, where the average cost of a home is still half a million euro, while property prices outside the capital increased by 7.2%.

The highest median house price in the country was recorded in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, where the midpoint price reached €685,000.

At the other end of the scale, the lowest median price was €200,000 in both Donegal and Longford.

The most expensive Eircode area in the country was A94 in Blackrock, Dublin, where the median price reached €845,000.

The cheapest was F45 in Castlerea, Roscommon, with a median price of €150,500.

The CSO said the annual increase of 6.5% represents the slowest rate of growth since February 2024.

Apartment prices continued to rise faster than houses nationally, increasing by 9.1% compared with a 6.1% rise in house prices.

Outside Dublin, apartment prices surged by 12%.

The strongest regional growth in house prices was recorded in the Midlands, covering Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath, where prices increased by 13.4% year-on-year.

A total of 4,123 homes were purchased in March at a combined value of €1.8 billion, according to Revenue filings. Of those purchases, 992 were newly built homes.

There were also 1,664 first-time buyer purchases recorded during the month.

Despite the easing in the rate of price growth, industry groups warned that affordability pressures remain severe due to the ongoing imbalance between supply and demand.

Rachel McGovern, deputy chief executive of Brokers Ireland, said the slowdown pointed to growing caution among buyers as many households are “reaching affordability limits”.

However, she warned that “respite from high prices would not appear to be on the horizon” due to ongoing supply shortages and inflationary pressures affecting construction.

She said many buyers were only managing to purchase homes with support from family, the Help-to-Buy scheme, the First Home Scheme, or a combination of all three.

“Government measures to bring down the cost of building homes is the only realistic prospect,” McGovern said, adding that this may require “politically unpalatable tax breaks”.

The Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers (IPAV) said the tapering in price growth reflected increased caution among buyers worried about interest rates and wider economic uncertainty.

IPAV chief executive Genevieve McGuirk said supply shortages remained evident across the country and continued to put pressure on all parts of the market.

“Those who want to sell an existing home worry they will not find a suitable alternative,” McGuirk said.

The CSO figures also show the scale of long-term growth in the housing market, with property prices nationally now 25% higher than at the peak of the Celtic Tiger property boom in 2007.