Ireland’s house prices have returned to the peak of the Celtic Tiger boom.

The latest Residential Property Price Index from the CSO shows national house prices have increased 14.1% in the past 12 months.

That compares to a 6.8% increase in the year before that.

The CSO said the national index has now reached a value of 163.3 points – which is equal to the highest level it experienced at the peak of the property boom in April 2007.

Despite that property prices in Dublin remain 8.1% lower than their February 2007 peak, while prices in the rest of Ireland are 1.3% below their May 2007 peak.

Nationally prices have increased 123% since the trough in early 2013.

Prices in Dublin have increased 127.6% since the February 2012 trough while prices in the rest of the country have increased 127.2% since May 2013.

Despite the sky-high prices, the rate of inflation nationally has slowed for the third month in a row.

Inflation in Dublin increased slightly after reducing for the previous three months.