Irish house prices now level with Celtic Tiger peak

James Cox

The residential property price index is now level with the peak recorded during the Celtic Tiger.

The latest Housing Market Monitor from the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland shows average prices are likely to continue to increase in the coming months.

The monitor shows that the real driver behind house price inflation in Ireland is the lack of supply.

Brian Hayes, the chief executive of Banking and Payments Federation, said it's critical that housing supply continues to increase and that affordability is improved in the market.

Mr Hayes said: "The real driver behind house price inflation in Ireland is the lack of supply. It's known now for quite some time that we need to get up to housing supply of at least 30,000 units every single year for the next five or six years."