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THE CENTRAL STATISTICS Office has published its residential property index for April, with the average price paid for a home was €247,771.
As a whole, the prices of property at national level has increased by 10.5% in the 12 months to April.
In Dublin, house prices are up 8.1% while apartments are up 8.6% in the same period. Across the rest of the country, house prices have risen 13.4% in the last year.
The biggest annual change in house prices is found in the west of the country, rising nearly a fifth (17.8%) in the past 12 months.
County breakdown
Across the country, only three counties had an average house price that was under €100,000.
The lowest was Longford with €88,837, followed by Leitrim with €97,637 and Roscommon at €99,117.
At the other end of the spectrum, Dublin was by far the most expensive, with the average home in the city costing €389,895.
The most expensive place by council district was Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, where the average house cost €563,011.
Outside of Dublin, Wicklow had the most expensive homes in Leinster, costing an average of €315,013.
In Connacht, the most expensive county was Galway with the average house costing €171,060.
Cork had the priciest homes in Munster, costing €212,005. And, in Ulster, Monaghan had the highest average house price of €133,045.
Since property prices in Ireland reached their lowest ebb in early 2013, the average price of homes in Ireland have increased by 52.1% according to the CSO.
The cost of property in Dublin has increased by over two-thirds (68.1%) in this time.
In a series of statements today, think tanks have warned that Ireland could be heading towards another unsustainable property bubble.
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has warned that the construction sector could cause Ireland’s economy to overheat if it grows much more quickly than is currently anticipated.
“The risk of overheating in coming years is significant,” it said in its latest fiscal assessment report. “This is particularly so if a sharp supply response to possible penty-up demand in the housing market were to contribute to unsustainable construction-led growth.”
Echoing these statements, the OECD has also warned that another Irish housing bubble could be created due to a sharp rise in house prices and property-related lending.
“The sharp rise in prices and lending raises concerns that another bubble may be forming, and the authorities should stand ready to tighten prudential regulations if needed,” it said.
Dammit Aoife! I had plans today! Now I have the urge to watch the sopranos from the very beginning! I have work in the morning!
Sorry Matt! ;)
Best ending ever! The only other that even came close was Birdy.
Still miss ya Tony.
I know, but there’s no reason to be posting it in public – my girlfriend’s a member of the internets too – she could see this.
RE: the ending of the show – I think it was the viewer that got ‘whacked’.
A few episodes back where Tony was in a boat and there was talk about how a sudden death might occur – all you would see is sudden blackness… That set the scene up for the final one. The viewer never saw it coming and then it was all over! You were watching everything going on in the cafe – then suddenly blackness… You were gone from the show forever more.
I think I agree especially considering the song ,”don’t stop believing ” basically breaks the fourth wall and reminds us of the fictionality of the whole sopranos world but also let’s it exist permanently due to the absence of finality.reminds me of the end of Waugh’s a handful of dust. This guy takes another view however and gives very detailed reasons why : https://masterofsopranos.wordpress.com/the-sopranos-definitive-explanation-of-the-end/
Clearly Tony was killed. Watch the camera shot sequence as each person enters the restaurant. We should see meg from Tony’s POV but instead we get darkness. Death, just as he predicted.
Sopranos was absolutely compulsive viewing but I felt the ending was a complete farce. Black screen? Give me a break! It was a complete cop out, the ultimate “we don’t know how to end this but let’s do it so it’s an end or maybe isn’t”. I’ll always be grateful to Chase for giving us the greatest show of its era but will never forgive him for the ending. It was just wrong on every level.
I thought it was a classic ending. Brilliant final episode.
The best interpretation I heard was that basically nothing happens. As in, day to day life continues as normal for Tony.
Just because the cameras aren’t rolling for us viewers, life goes in like it always did for Tony.
have your say