There were more than 14,000 new homes built in Ireland over the past 12 months, according to GeoDirectory, Ireland's address database.

Up to 14,107 buildings were classified as under construction last month, a 52.5% increase on the previous year

The majority were in the major urban areas of Dublin, Cork and Galway as well as the commuter belt counties of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow.

Over the 12 months to April, the average house price nationally was €289,146, an increase of €15,940 or 5.8% on the 2018 figure. Once Dublin is excluded, the average house price is €214,679.

Only three counties recorded prices higher than the national average- Dublin (€432,327), Wicklow (€341,217) and Kildare (€297,356).

Meath, Cork, Kilkenny, Galway and Louth were the only other counties to record average prices over €200,000.

The county with the lowest average property price was Longford at €115,330, followed by neighbouring counties Leitrim (€116,468) and Donegal (€122,953).

According to the GeoDirectory database, there were 2,009,809 houses in the state in June 2019. Of this total, detached houses account for the largest share at 32.7%, followed by terraced houses (27.7%) and semi-detached houses (24.5%).

There were 184,535 apartments in the country, representing 9.2% of the total stock. Almost two-thirds (63.9%) of all apartments are found in Dublin.

GeoDirectory chief executive Dara Keogh said: “The construction industry is rising to the challenge of demand for housing, but it is clear that there is still some way to go to reach the required level of supply.

“Construction activity levels are almost four times higher than this stage in 2015 and this is reflected in the number of new property purchases. One in five houses bought in the last 12 months was new, and in commuter counties such as Meath, Kildare and Wicklow, this proportion was much higher.”

Annette Hughes, director of EY-DKM Economic Advisory Services, said: “It’s encouraging to see that Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area are benefiting from increased construction activity since our last report, having felt the strain of a lack of supply in recent years.

“However, with such low levels of construction activity outside of Leinster, this analysis shows that more still needs to be done to encourage more balanced regional development so as to attract talent to areas outside of the capital and achieve the ambitious objectives set out in the National Development Plan.”

- additional reporting by Press Association