then sicken yourself even more by checking out the latest Permanent TSB/ESRI House Price Index, which informs us that national house prices have risen by more than 270% in the last decade, rising on average 14.9% each year during that period.

The special 10th anniversary edition of the property market report looks at houseprice statistics over the past 10 years, and makes for some very depressing reading, particularly if you're not one of those smart cookies who got on the property ladder a decade ago.

According to the report, the average price of a house in 1996 was just 75,000, compared to 280,000 in 2005.

But 1998 proved the worst year for house-buyers, and the best for sellers, with average prices increasing by 30% in that year alone.

And since 1996, the value of housing in Ireland has increased four-fold to a massive 412bn today.

Meanwhile, house-buying has never been so active and, despite the massive cost of a home of any kind, more people than ever are looking to buy their own property, evidenced by the fact that 547,000 new homes, onethird of the current total housing stock in Ireland, have been built in the last 10 years.

House completions for each year have also increased from 33,700 completed in 1996, to 81,000 built in 2005.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's Dubliners who bear the brunt of house-price increases, with an average difference of 130,000 between buying a home in the capital and elsewhere, compared to a difference of just 10,000 between Dublin and other counties 10 years ago.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Niall O'Grady of Permanent TSB claimed that the Irish housing market had gone through an extraordinary decade.

"For many that decade has been challenging in the extreme, particularly for those trying to get onto the property ladder.

"For others, including many ordinary homeowners, it has brought significant opportunity and promise, and for others it has been very lucrative, " said O'Grady.