Well, I'd argue that a good portion of the property boom here is demand driven. 60,000 or so people left school every year between (very roughly) 1985 and 1995. They all want houses, and they now have the money to buy them. Houses aren't being built fast enough and old people aren't dying fast enough, so the price rises rapidly.

Prices will level out, and maybe drop a bit, when supply catches up with demand.

I think this is an interesting question, because if you remember, about 5 years ago everybody was talking about the "Dutch Miracle" and its challenge to the moribund economies of France and Germany.

Like the Irish story, the Dutch story was partly a combination of market-friendly reforms (of the labor market mostly) and social partnership to moderate wage demands.

But the Dutch boom, as Jerome has indicated elsewhere, was also driven by a property bubble, which has now burst, leading to an economic downturn, and people don't talk about the "Dutch miracle" so much anymore.

I wonder if something similar may be happening in Ireland. As the table indicates, its property market has been pretty frothy over the last decade or so: