House price growth slows to lowest rate in more than two years

Michael Bolton

House prices for the month of March grew annually by 6.5 per cent, a drop from 6.7 per cent in February, figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.

It was 5.7 per cent in Dublin, while property prices outside Dublin were 7.2 per cent higher when compared with March 2025.

The March increase in prices represents the lowest annual increase since the 6.2 per cent recorded in February 2024.

House prices in Dublin rose by 5.1 per cent annually, while apartment prices increased by 7.8 per cent.

The highest house price growth in Dublin was in Dublin City at six per cent, while Fingal saw a rise of 3.4 per cent.

Outside of Dublin, house prices were up by 6.8 per cent, and apartment prices rose by 12 per cent.

The region outside of Dublin that recorded the largest growth in house prices was the midlands area of Laois, Longford, Offaly, and Westmeath at 13.4 per cent.

Dublin residential property prices are 9.9 per cent higher than their February 2007 peak, while residential property prices in the Rest of Ireland are 27.8 per cent higher than their May 2007 peak.

At the other end of the scale, the southwest region of Cork and Kerry saw a rise of 3.6 per cent.

Households paid a median or mid-point price of €390,461 for a residential property in the 12 months to March.

The highest median price paid for a dwelling was €685,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, while the lowest was €200,000 in both Donegal and Longford.

The most expensive Eircode area over the 12 months to March 2026 was A94 (Blackrock, Dublin) with a median price of €845,000, while F45 (Castlerea, Roscommon) had the lowest median price of €150,500.

In March 2026, 4,123 dwelling purchases by households at market prices were filed with the Revenue Commissioners, an increase of 14 per cent when compared with the 3,617 purchases in March 2025.