The latest CSO house price figures confirm that the Dublin housing market remains strong. However, economist and Director of Research at Savills Ireland Dr. John McCartney, warns against reading too much into the lates figures which were issued today; 

“The residential market is a classic seasonal business with typical selling peaks in the spring and autumn months. Generally, relatively few houses are sold in January – for example, last year only 5% of the 29,000 housing sales that took place were transacted in January”.

“The most important figures that were released today – both in terms of the housing market and the general economy – were the Quarterly National Household Survey data.  These show that the strong labour market recovery which has been underway since Q1 2012 continued throughout 2013. In net terms, 60,900 new jobs were added in the economy last year – a net increase of 3.3%, which is remarkable by international standards.”

Furthermore, McCartney points out that data from January shows that this momentum continued into the new year, with the numbers on the live register falling for the 26th month in succession.

“All of this will underpin the demand for housing and we expect prices to continue growing in Dublin throughout the year.”