House prices creep up 1.9%

THE average asking price for a house in County Wicklow in the first quarter of this year was €229,856, according to a report by property website Daft.ie.

The Daft House Price Report, Quarter 1 2014 - released this week - confirmed that the average asking price for a house in Wicklow now stood at €53,000 higher than the national average.

Prices here in the first quarter of 2014 were 1.9% higher than the corresponding figure for the first three months of last year, according to the report, but remained 53% below peak levels reached in 2007.

By comparison, house prices in neighbouring Carlow and Wexford fell by 8.8% and 3% respectively, while in Kildare they grew by 2.9%.

Dublin saw the highest rise of any county at 15%, giving further credence to the emergence of a three tiered market comprising itself, the commuter counties (including Wicklow) and the more rural parts of the country in order of expensiveness.