Official figures show that growth in residential property prices accelerated towards the end of 2020, with December prices up 2.2% compared with a year earlier. This was the biggest annual increase since July 2019 and continued a recovery from the slide seen earlier in 2020.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said prices rose by 0.8% during December, following increases of 0.4% and 0.5% in October and November respectively.

Apartment prices lead way

Growth was slower in Dublin, where prices of houses and apartments were up 1.2% over the 12-month period compared with 3.1% outside the capital.

The figures show that apartment prices are outstripping house prices, with annual growth of 5.1% for apartments in Dublin and 4% outside the capital.

House price growth is faster outside Dublin, however — 3.1%, compared with just 0.2% in the capital.

The South-East region led the way, with a 5.3% annual increase in house prices in December.

Volume of transactions jumps

The CSO figures show that prices of new houses and apartments were up 0.6% during the final quarter of 2020, in line with increases in the previous two quarters, bringing annual growth to 2%.

There was an increase in buying activity in December, with 4,988 transactions worth just under €1.6 billion recorded. The volume of activity jumped by almost 18% from November.

The median price for a home during 2020 was €260,000, though this rose to €380,000 in Dublin.