DUBLIN, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Ireland's residential property prices rose by 12.3 percent in the year to July, according to official figures on Tuesday.
Compared with a rise of 11.5 percent in the year to June and a rise of 7.1 percent in the 12 months to July 2016, the 12.3 percent increase is the fastest monthly growth in three years, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said.
In Dublin, residential property prices increased by 12.7 percent in the year to July, while residential property prices in the rest of Ireland were 11.7 percent higher in the period, according to the CSO figures.
But the CSO said the national index was 28.1 percent lower than its highest level in 2007.
From the trough in early 2013, prices nationally have increased by 60.5 percent, it said.
Economists here attributed the increase of property prices to a housing shortage throughout the country.
They said the lack of houses had clearly pushed up prices, particularly in the Dublin area in the past few years.
