The growth in house prices has fallen to its lowest level in 9 years but the market for first time buyers market remains strong, according to the latest permanent tsb/ESRI index.
Niall O'Grady, Head of Marketing, Permanent Tsb bank
House prices rose by 2.5 per cent in the first six months of 2005 compared to 4.7 per cent during the same period last year.
But the index showed an increase of 4.2 per cent in the price paid by first-time buyers as people took advantage of changes in stamp duty rules introduced in the last Budget.
The price of houses nationally rose by 0.6 per cent in June while the annual rate of growth in the 12 months to June was 6.3 per cent, compared with 6.6 per cent in May.
Permanent TSB's Niall O'Grady said while the market continued to moderate some sectors were continuing to show "relatively strong growth".
Mr O'Grady predicted the price of houses would rise by around 5 cent this year and that the market was now hitting "a sustainable long term rate of growth of between 5 and 6 per cent".
House prices nationally have risen by 220 per cent since 1997 and by almost 300 per cent in Dublin.
The average price paid for a house in June of this year was €260,458, an increase of just over €6,000 on the equivalent price recorded in December 2004 (€254,215).
The average price for a house in Dublin in June was €346,576, compared to €320,498 in June 2004.
In separate study on first time buyers, it was found that almost 20 pet cent relied on a gift from a parent or relative to help fund the purchase.
The research revealed that the average gift received is €15,000.
It also found that 44 per cent of first time buyers say their mortgage repayments are "no burden at all" while 49 per cent said their repayments represented "somewhat of a burden".
The average age of a first time buyer is 30 while 80 per cent are younger than 34 with 10 per cent being older than 40.
Mr O'Grady said the Dublin remained a competitive market for first time buyers and many were tending to buy in the city's commuter belt.