AFTER TAKING A slight dip at the start of the year, property prices are marching back upwards.

For the second month in a row, the price of residential property across the country has increased.

In May, prices rose by 0.6% nationally leading to an annual increase of 15.8%.

This increase was felt both inside and outside of Dublin but the capital’s property prices continue to recover more quickly, growing by 1% last month compared to 0.3%.

The latest price index from the CSO, which is based on sales backed by mortgages, shows that house prices are still well below their 2007 peak, by an average of 37.8% across the country.

CSO.ie CSO.ie

The May increase in prices follows on from a similar jump in April and represents a turnaround on the temporary slowdown observed in January, February and March when prices were in decline.

Last year, prices declined in the first three months of 2014 before increasing for nine consecutive months. That trend may not ultimately be repeated again in 2015 but the first five months have so far followed the exact same pattern.

The latest CSO figures pointed out that all of the percentage increases in Dublin property prices was carried by houses, with apartment prices remaining the same.

Market advisory firm Davy says that the developments are “broadly in line with our expectations” and that a bounce back was expected in Q2.

“Irish house prices will be broadly stable through the first half of 2015, ” says Davy’s Conall Mac Coille .

So we are still on track to see prices rise by close to 10% in the calendar year 2015, but with annual inflation slowing towards 5% by December. However, the impact of the Central Bank’s new mortgage lending rules on the housing market is not yet apparent.

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