The latest Irish Independent/Real Estate Alliance Average House Price Index shows that prices in Co Laois have shot up 6.1% since the start of the year, while prices in Co Cavan have surged by 6.7%.

Meanwhile, strict lending controls introduced by the Central Bank are being cited as the reason for a near flat-line in prices of three-bed semis in Dublin since the beginning of the year.

Aside from north Co Dublin, where affordable homes are still available in some numbers, Dublin prices have remained almost unchanged as potential buyers fell short on new lending criteria.

The price of the average home in south Co Dublin has remained entirely static since Christmas, while values in Dublin’s postcode suburbs increased by just a 0.5% during the same period.

In contrast, in the same period last year, prices in Dublin’s postcode suburbs shot up almost 10 times faster – by 4.5%. Meanwhile, prices in north Co Dublin, where more affordable homes are still available, continued to range upward, but by just 2.4% since the start of the year.

After rising by 12.5pc in 2017, the average price for a semi-detached house in the capital has increased by just €2,000 in the opening quarter of 2018 and now stands at €440,000 – almost twice the price of an average semi-detached house elsewhere in Ireland (€229,111).