The Chief economist with Sherry Fitzgerald auctioneers claims plans need to be made for the future to accommodate a growing population.

Marian Finnegan said there has been drop in the number of retail units available for sale, which is putting pressure on potential buyers and pushing prices up as a result.

“We need to start planning for the future. We’ve been talking about this for some time now, and obviously, during a recession, no-one wants to think about building property. But that’s what we need to be planning, at least,” she said.

“For the last five years, the population has grown by about 8%, and an awful lot of that population growth went into the urban areas … yet we’ve been building next to nothing in terms of housing units.”

She said the resulting scarcity was increasing both rent and buying prices in the capital.