Irish house prices rise 0.3 percent month-on-month
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish house prices grew by 0.3 percent month-on-month in December, the slowest monthly rise since May last year when prices began to firmly stabilise after a property crash, the central statistics office said on Thursday.
Residential house prices, which have halved since 2008 in a crash that devastated the economy, stood 6.4 percent higher than a year ago. Prices in Dublin, which are 15.7 percent higher than a year ago, rose 1.3 percent on the month.
The government is placing construction at the heart of its economic strategy and in its recent budget for 2014 announced tax breaks for the industry, saying the supply of housing stock must be increased to prevent a new housing bubble emerging.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Sam Cage)
