A new report shows property prices outside Dublin went up in the first three months of the year.

According to www.daft.ie, it is the first quarterly increase outside the capital since the middle of 2007.

Cork and Galway city centre properties rose 2% and 3%, respectively.

Although experiencing increases in the latest quarter, both Waterford and Limerick city centre prices are down from the first quarter of last year by 1% and 6% respectively.

Meanwhile, prices in Dublin are 15% higher.

Nationally, the average asking price is now €177,000, up 3.5% from the same time last year and down 53% from the peak.

The total number of properties on the market in now just over 33,000, down from a peak of 62,000 in mid-2009. In Dublin, the number of properties available for sale is below 2,300. According to the official Property Price Register, there were over 3,800 properties purchased in the last three months of 2013 within Dublin.

Economist with Daft.ie, Ronan Lyons said, “For the first time since 2007, the average asking price outside Dublin rose on a quarterly basis. This may show the first indications that a better match is being found between demand – which will be boosted by the fall in unemployment – and supply – which has eased back considerably in the last two years.”

See the full report here