New figures released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that prices and activity continued to rise in the Irish housing market in November 2017. 
 
Prices rose by 1.1% month on month in November, with the annual rate of growth standing at 11.8%, in line with trends seen in the second half of the year.
 
The figures show that every region continues to see double-digit price inflation with little in the way of a Dublin/outside Dublin split. However, the recovery in prices in Dublin has been faster. House prices are now 22% below 2007 peak levels, whereas house prices outside the capital are still 28% below.

Regionally, Dublin has seen the most rapid growth in new home sales (+92%), while the Greater Dublin area accounted for 64% of the new home purchased in the past twelve months.

Housing transactions maintained their strong growth momentum in November, with 5,873 transactions recorded (+11% yoy), the largest month of transactions since January 2015. On a rolling 12-month basis, the level of transactions (60,120) has breached the 60k threshold for the first time in the post-crisis era.
 
Goodbody Stockbrokers today noted, "The most notable aspect of the activity trends relates to new homes purchases. While the numbers remain small, November saw the largest number of new homes sales to households in the series (going back to January 2010). Purchases of new homes by first-time buyers (FTB) grew by 49% yoy in the eleven months to November, but do not represent the largest cohort of buyers, with owner-occupiers accounting for 36% (relative to 31% for FTBs). The Help-to-Buy scheme is undoubtedly playing a role in boosting demand, with the largest proportion of the take-up in the traditional FTB price bracket (€226K-€300K)."
 
Source: www.businessworld.ie