Property prices have now increased by more than 80% since the market hit its lowest point in 2013.
Data released by the Central Statistics Office shows that prices continue to rise in all markets. The Property Price Register also shows that the number of new dwellings being bought remains low, with new builds accounting for less than one-in-five properties sold in March.
Property prices increased by 3.9% in the year ending March 2019. It is the first time this year that prices have increased from the previous month, with prices in March 0.2% higher than those in February.
In Dublin, prices rose by 1.2% in the year ending March, with apartment prices increasing by 2.5%.
Outside Dublin, inflation is much stronger. The mid-west region saw prices increase by 11.9% in the year, with the south-west increasing by 7.6% and the south-east by 8.4%.
Overall, the national index is now just 18.6% lower than its peak in 2007. On a national rate, prices have increased by 81.6% since their trough in early 2013.
In Dublin, prices have risen by 92.5% from their February 2012 low, while residential prices in the rest of Ireland are 78.8% higher than at the trough, which was in May 2013.
There was a slight increase in the number of purchases filed with Revenue in March. Some 3,195 household dwelling purchases were filed, a 1.2% increase on the same month in 2018 and a 6.3% increase on February 2019.
Of these, just 572 were new dwellings, accounting for just 17.9% of the total number of houses sold. It is a 9.6% decline on March 2018 and has been described as "a major issue" by IPAV, the Institute of Professional Auctioneers & Valuers.
Pat Davitt, IPAV chief executive, described the figure as "abnormally low."
"Prices in many areas of the country are still below the cost of building," he said. "Over 82% of the houses purchased according to today’s report are existing dwellings, pointing to the difficulty with building new homes."
In all, 44,458 household dwelling purchases were filed with Revenue in the year to March. Of these, 13,631 (30.7%) were purchased by first-time buyer owner-occupiers, while former owner-occupiers purchased 23,157 (52.1%). The balance of 7,670 (17.3%) were acquired by non-occupiers.
Revenue data shows that there were 964 first-time buyer purchases in March 2019, an increase of 6.8% on the 903 recorded in March 2018.
The CSO report shows that households paid a median price of €250,000 in the 12 months to March 2019. In Dublin, the median price was €368,000, with the median price in Cork city €240,000. In Cork County, it was €241,000, with buyers in Kerry spending a median of €164,500. In Waterford, this was €170,000 and in Limerick, it was €188,000.
All ten of the most expensive Eircode areas in Dublin. A94, Blackrock, was the highest with a median price of €620,000. The least expensive Eircode was H23, Clones, in Co Monaghan, where the median property price was €64,000.
