The report, by UCD planning economist Dr Brendan Williams, points to a glut of new build housing developments poised to hit the Dublin market over the next 12 months.

Many Dubliners forced to buy in outlying areas are fed up with long commutes and are buying closer to the city centre. This may cause demand to slacken and prices to fall in outer commuter areas, the report says.

These so called "Dulchies" (Dublin culchies) are now opting for smaller homes in order to be closer to work and their extended families. The new build properties about to hit the Dublin market will be priced competitively with similar homes in the commuter belt, and a considerable amount will be located in north County Dublin.

According to Permanent TSB house prices in commuter counties grew by just over 17% last year. The average price of a house in the Meath, Wicklow, Kildare and Louth area was almost Euro350,000, an increase of Euro45,000 over the previous year.

Mortgage brokers in suburban Co Dublin have told the Sunday Tribune that anecdotal evidence suggests business is increasingly being driven by house-hunters seeking to move inside the M50.

Dublin house price increases outpaced the rest of the country due to jobs growth and a lack of supply. But urban planners say a bottleneck of slow planning permission and infrastructure issues such as sewerage and water, rather than lack of available land, contributed to runaway house price inflation. But housing supply may be finally catching up.

Figures released earlier this month by the Construction Industry Federation reported 90,000 new homes were expected to be completed in 2006 and forecast a similar number of completions this year.