There is more evidence that house prices in Dublin are growing at a slower pace than the rest of the country - and that this trend is likely to continue through 2016.

The prices of newly listed houses in Ireland experienced "renewed price momentum" during the first three months of 2016, increasing by 2.1% nationally, and by 0.9% in Dublin during the first quarter.

This was the first quarterly increase in prices in Dublin since the second quarter of 2015.

The MyHome.ie in association with Davy report adds that there is still "more room for catch-up" outside of the capital. Dublin and commuter belt counties account for 75% of transactions that exceed €220,000.

It adds that low housing supply and limited homebuilding activity are the main factors affecting the Irish property market.

The author Conall MacCoille, Chief Economist at Davy, said a key factor supporting house prices this year will be a tighter housing market.

"The stock of properties listed for sale on the MyHome website in the first quarter fell to a fresh low of 21,650, down 6% on the year. Despite popular opinion, the immediate impact of the Central Bank lending rules was to make it easier to buy as sellers anticipated the slowdown in Dublin house prices and decided to bring their properties to the market in 2015."

"This won't be repeated this year while housing supply in the capital is likely to pick up less sharply through the summer months. This is because the ambitious goals set under the last government's Construction 2020 strategy are unlikely to be attained with no stable coalition yet formed for the new Dail. Overall, homebuilding levels look set to remain depressed for some time and while this will support Irish house prices, it will hurt activity levels" Mr. MacCoille said.