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Dublin - Irish house prices outside Dublin rose at their fastest rate in seven years in the year to July, in a sign the market recovery is starting to move beyond the capital, data showed on Wednesday.
Prices in Dublin have surged by 23% in the past year, leading the central bank to warn that a protracted delay in addressing housing shortages could put prices on an unsustainable path, but prices in the rest of the country have lagged.
Ireland's economy is still recovering from a devastating 2008 property crash and the resulting banking crisis that forced it into an EU/IMF bailout, though the economy appears to be rebounding with growth of 2.7% in the first quarter.
Residential property prices outside of Dublin rose 5% in the year to July, up from 3% in June and 1.8% in May, leaving prices 43% below their 2007 peak, the Central Statistics Office said.
The government has said it will soon announce a series of measures to boost house building to ease pressure on prices. State-owned property agency Nama has said it plans to invest €1.5bn to develop housing in Dublin.
Building supplies group Grafton, which earlier on Wednesday said Irish sales helped lift its underlying operating profit by 62% compared to a year ago, reported signs that building activity was starting to move beyond the capital.
"We saw the recovery starting in Dublin, but it is really starting to permeate across the country now, probably with the exception of the midlands," CEO Gavin Slark told Reuters.
"What you are probably seeing is the result of many years of nothing being built, so demand is tightening up, particularly in terms of family houses," he said.
