House prices rose just 1 per cent in the first three months of the year, the lowest rate of increase in nine years, according to figures from mortgage lender Permanent TSB and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
On a 12-month basis prices across the State rose by an average of 7.5 per cent, down from 7.9 per cent in the 12 months to February.
The annualised rate has been falling quickly since last September when it stood at 12 per cent.
On a monthly basis, property prices rose by 0.4 per cent in March, half the rate a year earlier, though slightly ahead of the 0.3 per cent recorded in February. The average purchase price of a property last month was €256,690, almost €8,000 ahead of the same time in 2004.
Dublin saw prices rising faster, with the average price at the end of March 8.3 per cent ahead over a year earlier at €339,946.
Outside the capital, the average price was €222,077.
Niall O'Grady, head of marketing at Permanent TSB said the figures made a 5 per cent rise in prices over the whole of 2005 a "very achievable outcome".
"While there are some significant variations within the different sectors of the housing market, the overall picture is one of consistently modest price rises resulting in the lowest level of national price growth in the nine years that we have been researching these figures," he said.
New houses continued to show the fastest rate of growth, costing 9.2 per cent more than at the same time in 2004, although the annual rate of growth was down from double figures in February.
The average new house price was €253,901, still shy of the price of existing properties, which averaged €263,925.
However, the market value of existing homes rose by 7.5 per cent over the 12 months.
First-time buyers were one of the few groups to face accelerating growth in prices last month.
The €223,955 average they paid in March was 7.3 per cent higher than 12 months previously. In February prices had risen just 7 per cent year on year.
Existing homeowners saw prices rise by half a percentage point in the month and by 1.1 per cent over the first quarter.
The average price paid last month was €290,255, which is 7.8 per cent higher than that of a year earlier.
In general, the rate of increase across most sectors analysed in the survey was around half the pace of March 2004.
Over the first three months of the year, the price of property in the commuter counties of Louth, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow rose by 1.7 per cent, compared to 1.5 per cent in Dublin and 1 per cent nationally. Over the same period last year, these counties saw growth of 1.9 per cent - lower than for Dublin and the country as a whole.
