The housing market faces a "challenging" future as property prices are now double what they were in 2013, a new report has found. It also shows young couples can only afford apartments that are around 115 square metres, while single individuals are likely to struggle to afford to purchase property with the current prices. Carried out by Grant Thornton in collaboration with Dhalia, the report shows that "house prices increased by 100 per cent". "This means that, on average, a property that sold for €100,000 in 2013H1 would have been selling at €200,000 in 2022H1. This represents a significant increase in house prices that coincided with fast economic growth and a strong influx of foreign workers," the report states. The study also found that the greatest rate of growth occurred between 2016 and 2019, when house prices increased the most. A marginal dip was recorded at the end of 2019 and in early 2020, with the report pointing to the "uncertainty caused by the political turmoil" at the end of 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of the following year. Similarly, the rental price of housing units also increased over the nine-year period between 2013 and 2022, going up...