Residential property prices increased by 6.6% across Ireland in the year to December.

This compares to 6.5% growth in November and represents a significant cooling off compared to the 16.3% recorded in the 12 months to December 2014.

Prices rose by 0.5% in December, up from a decrease of 0.5% in November.

In Dublin residential property prices decreased by 0.5% between November and December - they are 2.1% higher than one year earlier.

The price of apartments in the capital has increased by 7.8% when compared to the same month in 2014.

The CSO notes that in this sub-index the volume of transactions is relatively low - this makes these figures more volatile.

House prices in Dublin are 34.2% lower than their highest level as the Celtic Tiger property boom peaked in early 2007.

Apartments in Dublin are 40.6% cheaper than they were in February 2007.