Slight fall in home prices in Dublin as the market 'cools'
House prices in Dublin are "cooling", with a slight fall in prices in the residential property market recorded last month.
Home-buyers in the capital will take some comfort in a decrease in the city's residential property prices of 0.4pc during the month of June, according to the Central Statistics Office.
Despite this fall, Dublin residential property prices were still 11.1pc higher last month compared to prices being paid in June 2014.
During June this year, Dublin house prices fell by 0.3pc, while the prices of city apartments fell by 0.4pc.
Slowdown
John McCartney, director of research at real-estate firm Savills, said that the new figures confirm that the housing market in Dublin has "cooled significantly", with prices down around 1.1pc in the year to date.
"This slowdown was probably inevitable, given the very rapid price growth seen between April and October 2014," he said.
"But it also reflects the impact of tighter mortgage lending rules, which have been in place since February.
"Agents are reporting that there has been a definite cooling in the market," he said.
In the 12 months to June of this year, residential property prices increased nationally by 10.7pc.
But during the month of June this year, residential property prices rose very slightly nationally - by just 0.1pc.
This compares with an increase of 0.5pc during the month of May.
Outside of Dublin, residential property prices rose by 0.4pc during June.
Mr McCartney said that a return to rising prices is unlikely for the rest of the year.
"As the CSO index lags the market by three months, this means the rally that has been seen in the second half of recent years is unlikely to materialise in 2015," he said.
"Therefore, we expect price growth to be modest at best for the remainder of this year."
However, Mr McCartney warned that prices in the capital could eventually shoot up, considering a lack of building projects in the greater Dublin area.
Pressure
"Looking further ahead, the detailed demographic data show that Dublin's population has picked up strongly as people follow the jobs," he said.
"Given the sluggish house building, this will keep upward pressure on prices in the long run.
"However, given affordability constraints, cash-funded investors rather than owner-occupiers may move to the forefront in the next phase of the market," he added.
Dublin house prices are now around 37pc lower than their peak in the boom, according to official statistics.
Analysis by Davy Stockbrokers stated inflation in the property market in Ireland is likely to continue to slow down.