Today's CSO figures show that price growth in Dublin is beginning to soften. In contrast, prices outside Dublin have been rising at an increasing rate for the last seven months, and November saw the strongest rate of price growth outside the capital since June 2007.

Commenting on the figures, Dr. John McCartney, Director of Research at property consultants Savills said that these contrasting trends reflected the displacement of demand from Dublin to the commuter counties.

"For the last two years, cash sales has driven very strong price growth in Dublin. However, with cash buyers becoming scarcer, the traditional mortgage financed buyer has once again become the mainstay of the market. However, tight bank lending and the price growth that has been experienced in Dublin over the past two years mean that affordability is becoming an issue for these buyers."

According to McCartney, this is once again driving demand out of the city and into the commuter counties;

"It is inevitable that this dynamic will cause buyers to look again at properties in the commuter belt, and this is what is driving the continued strong price growth outside Dublin".