House prices in capital plummet 62% from peak

ASKING prices for houses in Dublin city are 62% below their peak in 2007.

According to sales and rental website Daft.ie, the asking price for a three-bed house in Dublin city centre is €255,000.

The asking price plummeted by almost 10% in the final three months of last year, the largest quarterly decrease seen in the capital.

While half of properties listed in Dublin sell within five months, the other half struggle to find buyers.

In most of the counties in Leinster, house prices are more than 50% below their peak. In Longford, the asking price for a three-bedroom house is €93,000, down almost 60%.

Prices throughout Munster are more than 40% below peak levels, with the asking price for a three-bed house highest in Cork city at €182,000 and lowest in Waterford city at €121,000.

Just under one-third of properties listed in Munster find a buyer within three months, according to Daft.ie, but only a further one in six find a buyer within a year.

Asking prices dipped sharply throughout Connacht and Ulster, including in Monaghan, which had seen the average price increase between July and September.

Prices in Roscommon were relatively stable following six months of sharp falls. In Roscommon, the average price for a three-bed house is €108,000 and in Monaghan it is €128,000.

Between September and December, Dublin saw an average fall in asking prices of 8.9% while the fall in Cork city was 5.4%. The average fall in Limerick was just 3%, while the fall in Waterford was 7.7%.

The largest fall occurred in Galway city, where asking prices were discounted by more than 14% in just three months. In the previous quarter, asking prices had risen slightly.

Outside of the main cities, asking prices dropped by between 7 and 8% in most parts of the country, except for Munster, where the average fall was 5.5%. but which still marks the largest fall seen yet in the province.

According to rival website MyHome.ie asking prices nationally are now down by 43% compared to when property prices peaked in the third quarter of 2006. Dublin prices are down 50% over the same period.

The site estimates that transaction prices nationally are reduced to levels last seen a decade ago while in Dublin they are back at 2000 levels.

Asking prices remained unchanged in Cork city in the last quarter and were down 10% for the year. Average house property prices in the city are €225,000, the same as Galway.

The average price in Limerick is €180,000 while it is €185,000 in Waterford.

It found prices for three-bed houses appear to be stabilising in a lot of counties, with Donegal (€150,000) and Mayo (€165,000) unchanged in the last nine months, while Monaghan, Roscommon and Wexford, where the average price was €150,000, were unchanged for the last six months.

Asking prices for a two-bedroom apartment remained unchanged in nine counties — from €90,000 in Clare to €210,000 in Wicklow. In Dublin, however, the average asking price was €400,000, down almost 5% on the previous three months.

Lowest prices were recorded for new properties that declined by just 1% during the last three months.