The most desirable areas of Dublin for home buyers are Ranelagh, Ballsbridge, Rathmines and Rathgar but many three-bedroom houses in these areas command prices in excess of €1 million.
The Sunday Times Dublin Property Price Guide found that agents expect property values in the Capital to rise by an average of 5.8% this year, due to high demand.
More affordable homes are available in Neilstown, Ballymun, Tallaght and Darndale from €200,000.
The provision of housing needs to move away from a 'for-profit' model to the providing it as a basic human right, according to a People Before Profit TD
Paul Murphy, TD for Dublin South-West says house prices are out of control:
"They're out of reach for the vast majority of people with ordinary, even somewhat well-paying, jobs.
"This is one aspect of the housing crisis which sees now almost half a million young people effectively stuck in their family home when they'd rather be out either renting or buying somewhere."
Sunday Times Primary Researcher, Patrick O’Donoghue, says the highly competitive market is pricing people out of their preferred choices:
"One of the biggest effects and biggest trends that was noted was this being priced out of areas that are deemed by a lot of people to perhaps be more desirable or to have property types that are more aspirational.
"Places where people might look to go for their first option, they're missing out due to the uber-competitive bidding process that is now emerging.
"I suppose that's always been a feature of home-buying, but just the scale of that now is something that's really being remarked upon."