The annual growth in house prices in Ireland will slow further next year according to property experts surveyed by the Irish Sunday Independent, while demand for houses may be peaking or already have stabilised.

A housing expert suggests the rate of increase in prices may slow from 8% nationally this year to 6.2% nationally and 4.4% in Dublin for 2019. Predictions for 2020 show a further cooling off of prices to 4.2% and 3.2% annually respectively. However, were this to happen, it would mean Irish property prices will have increased by 19.7% in the three years from January 2018 to December 2020.

The figures come from John McCartney, director of research at Savills, and are backed up by Pat Davitt, CEO of IPAV, who said: “The days of the 10% and 12% and 15% are gone for the moment. I'd say we're looking at price increases under 5% in Dublin for 2019.”

While the slowdown in prices will offer some relief to prospective house-buyers, housing policy analyst Mel Reynolds cautioned: “We're still between 5% and 6%, which is pretty high in comparison to Europe and the UK.”