Asking prices for apartments to plunge by 14% this year

ASKING prices for apartments in Cork city fell slightly last month but nationally prices are expected to plunge 14% this year.

This is slightly less than the 18% drop last year, according to property price analysts, MyHat.ie. So far this year property prices in Dublin, Cork and Galway are down by 6%.

In Dublin asking prices for two-bedroom apartments fell in May by 1.5%, to bring the overall fall so far this year to 6.5%.

An apartment that might have achieved €300,000 in Dublin in January might now be advertising at about €280,500 and could well be facing less than €270,000 by the end of the year, according to Paul O’Connor of MyHat.ie.

Three-bed semi prices in the capital fell by 1.2% in May, bringing the overall fall to date this year to just over 5%. The average asking price for a three-bed semi in Dublin has fallen from €355,000 in January to €342,000.

In Cork city two-bed apartments have shown quite a lot of price stability since a big fall in January, and they actually registered a small price increase in May of 0.5%, according to Mr O’Connor.

“In the year to date prices are down 4.4% however,” he said.

Three-bed houses in Cork have seen a sharp fall of almost 10% since the start of the year. In Galway, city two-beds in May lost most of the small gain they made in April, falling by 0.7% bringing the overall deflation for the year to 6%. Three-bed townhouses in Galway fell 1.5% in May, bringing the average asking price below €250,000.