Official figures show that annual growth in the price of residential property accelerated for the fourth month in a row in December last year.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said that home prices rose by 4.4% compared with December 2022 – up from revised growth of 3.1% in November. The growth figure was the strongest since February last year.

The figures show that prices rose at an annual rate of 2.7% in Dublin in December, while prices outside Dublin jumped by 5.7% over the year.

The figures also show that home prices rose by 1.5% during December alone, having increased by 1% in November.

Midlands leads way

In the 12 months to December 2023, house prices in Dublin rose by 2.7%, while apartment prices rose by 2.6%. The highest house-price growth in Dublin was in South Dublin at 4.3%.

Outside Dublin, house prices were up by 5.6% and apartment prices rose by 7.7% over the year. The region outside of Dublin that saw the largest rise in house prices was the Midlands (Laois, Longford, Offaly, and Westmeath) at 7.8%.

In December, Revenue recorded 5,063 home purchases by households at market prices – a drop of 2.9% compared with the same month in 2022.

Households paid a median or mid-point price of €327,500 for a residential property in the 12 months to December 2023.