Housing prices nationally rose by 5.5% during 2018, according to a new report.
Property website Daft.ie says the average price nationwide in the final quarter of 2018 was €254,000, down 1.1% on the figure for the third quarter.
The annual increase of 5.5% - or just over €1,000 a month - was smaller than increases of between 8% and 9% seen in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
This marks the lowest year-end inflation rate since 2013.
In Dublin, prices rose by 2.9% during 2018, compared to an increase of 11.7% in 2017.
Source: Daft.ie
Prices in Cork rose by 5.8%, compared to 5.1% in 2017, while in Galway city prices rose by 6.3% compared to 8.1% a year earlier.
Inflation in Waterford city held steady at 8.6% - while in Limerick inflation picked up with increases of 9.8% in 2018 versus 6.9% in 2017.
The number of properties available to buy on the market nationwide rose by 10% during 2018.
There were over 23,500 properties for sale in December 2018, compared to 21,200 a year earlier.
This is the first year-end increase in availability in a decade.
Source: Daft.ie
Ronan Lyons, economist at Trinity College Dublin and author of the Daft.ie report, said: "During the 2000s bubble and crash, the laws of supply and demand were secondary in the housing market to credit market shocks.
"Not least because of the Central Bank's mortgage rules, the market this decade has returned to the more fundamental drivers of supply and demand.
"Since 2013, demand has been strong but supply weak.
"The increase in homes being built - especially estate houses - in the last 18 months, though, has helped cool down inflation, in particular in the Greater Dublin area, where construction activity is focused.
"The hope for the housing system is that the building of new homes continues to increase, and to spread to other urban areas."
