Annual asking price inflation for housing is now running at 12.3%, according to the latest research from property website, MyHome.ie.
It follows an increase in asking prices nationally of 2.4% during the first three months of the year, the property listings service claims.
Outside Dublin, asking prices were 2.7% higher in the first quarter compared to the same time last year the report shows, with the annual rate of house asking price inflation sitting at 14%.
Inside Dublin the rate of increase was lower at 2.2% for the quarter and 8.6% nationally.
It means that the median asking price for new listings nationally is now €295,000, while the price in Dublin is €385,000 and around the country it is €245,000.
The report also shows that the number of new properties for sale on the website fell to 11,200 this month.
That represents a 42% decreased on the last quarter of 2019, before the global coronavirus pandemic began.
Outside Dublin the supply constraints appear to be even tighter, with the number of properties listed down nearly 50% compared to the period prior to the arrival of Covid-19.
The analysis also found that rents nationally increased by 9% in the year to February.
“We had previously forecast Irish Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) inflation to slow to 4.5% in 2022, albeit signalling that we would likely revise that up to a mid-single-digit figure,” said Conall MacCoille, chief economist at Davy and the author of the report.
“Our revised forecast is for 7% RPPI inflation through 2022 and 4.5% in 2023,” the economist said.
Mr MacCoille is also estimating that double-digit inflation is now likely to persist until at least the middle of the year.
He added that homes are being sold at 6.5% above asking prices, reflecting the froth in the market.
Separately, the latest Daft.ie Sales Report also estimates that asking prices for housing rose by 2.4% during the first quarter.
However, it thinks that that the annualised rate of asking price inflation for housing is lower than MyHome.ie, at 8.4% in the year to the end of March.
It claims the increases remain smaller in urban areas, compared to rural areas, although the gap is narrowing.
The report found that in Dublin, Cork and Galway cities, in the first quarter of 2022 prices were roughly 4% higher on average than a year previously.
But in Limerick and Waterford cities, the rise was 7.6% and 9.3% respectively.
On its website there were just 10,000 homes listed for sale on March 1, representing another low in the 16-year long series.
“Both new and second-hand supply remain weaker than expected before the pandemic. Combined with unexpected strong demand, due to accidental savings during lockdown, this has driven up prices,” said Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin and author of the report.
“Additional supply – of all types of homes, for sale but also market rental and social rental housing – remains the only real solution to solving Ireland’s chronic housing shortage,” he added.