New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that residential property prices rose by 7.5% in the year to March, down from the 8% rise recorded in the previous month.
The CSO said the median price of a home bought in the 12 months to March was €362,500.
The highest median price was €665,000 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, while the lowest was €180,000 in Leitrim.
Today’s figures show that property prices in Dublin rose by 6% in the year to March, while prices outside Dublin were up by 8.7% compared with the same time last year.
In the 12 months to March, house prices in Dublin rose by 5.9% while apartment prices increased by 6.2%.
The CSO noted that the highest house price growth in Dublin was in Fingal at 7.8% while South Dublin saw growth of 4.7%.
Outside Dublin, house prices were up by 9.1% and apartment prices rose by 4.3%.
The region outside of Dublin that saw the largest growth in house prices was the Border (Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, and Sligo) at 12.8%, while at the other end of the scale, the Mid-East (Kildare, Louth, Meath, and Wicklow) saw a 6.7% rise.
Meanwhile, the most expensive Eircode area over the 12 months to March was A94 (Blackrock, Dublin) with a median price of €750,000, while F45 (Castlerea, Roscommon) had the least expensive price of €150,000.
The CSO said that 3,617 home purchases made at market prices were filed with Revenue in March, an increase of 9.1% when compared with the 3,314 deals the same time last year.
The total value of transactions filed during the month was €1.5 billion. This was made up of 2,866 existing homes with a value of €1.2 billion, and 751 new homes with a value of €360.6m, the CSO added.
Today’s figures show that the national index is now 17.3% above its highest level at the peak of the property boom in April 2007.
Dublin residential property prices are 4% higher than their February 2007 peak, while residential property prices in the Rest of Ireland are 19.1% higher than their May 2007 peak.
McDonald calls on Government to stop ‘screwing up’ on housing
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has called on the Government to stop “screwing up” on housing.
Rents are climbing faster than at any time in the last 20 years with average rents now an eye watering €24,000 annually, Ms McDonald told the Dáil.
She criticised the Minister for Housing James Browne and asked Taoiseach Micheál Martin if changes were afoot to abolish rent pressure zones and warned that this would lead to higher rip-off rents for tenants.
Mr Martin said the rents are too high and the issue is supply.
He contended that the Opposition are bereft of ideas on housing and he said that Sinn Féin had proposals in its election manifesto that would “screw” first time buyers.
All evidence suggests that current policy on rent was restricting investment in the rental market and there was a need to create a secure investment landscape.
Additional reporting: Mícheál Lehane