Surveyors welcome latest CSO House Price figures

But call for speedy publication of National Property Price Register to show ‘full picture’ of property prices

Wednesday 26th September 2012. The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) has welcomed the latest CSO House Price results which indicates that property prices rose by 0.5% last month. But the Society said the publication of actual selling prices is needed to show the full picture of property prices nationwide.

The SCSI said that while it was encouraging that the CSO figures point to a slight increase in property prices nationally – reflecting increased levels of activity on the ground in certain locations – the lack of publicly available house sales price data, continuing difficulties in accessing mortgage finance and the uncertainty around the proposed property tax, continued to restrict a recovery in the market.

Roland O’Connell, the President of the SCSI said; “While the CSO figures are helpful in terms of providing another indication of property prices for the public, we urgently require the publication of the National Property Price Register to give the full picture. The Register will contain the actual selling prices and include sales via both mortgage and cash transactions – the CSO index doesn’t include the latter – and this will enable the public to make fully informed decisions”.

The SCSI also said that the abolishment of the Mortgage Interest Relief at the end of 2012 did not appear to be having a significant impact on activity levels in the market.

“Despite the Mortgage Interest Relief being quite generous for people who avail of it before the end of the year, the lack of impact on the market suggests that prospective purchasers either are not fully aware of the allowances or do not consider it a sufficient factor in determining whether to buy a property before the end of the year”, O’Connell concluded.