The all new and only slightly recycled off topic thread (read post 1)

But the underlying reason for house price rises is more obvious. The population of Dublin is growing by roughly 17,000 people a year, which translates into roughly 7,500 units a year. But over the entire three years from January 2011 to December 2013, just 4,000 new dwellings were built in the capital, about one sixth of what Dublin needed.

We are our own best judges of where we want to live. If building is not happening now, when both prices and rents in Dublin are near their limit relative to incomes, then something has gone horribly wrong with our planning and regulatory system. Those unconvinced that regulation is at the heart of the problem would do well to consider this: the development which won the Urban Land Institute's prestigious global award for housing last year is illegal under Irish building regulations.