House values drop 10% in a year

HOUSE prices continued to drop last month, with the average home now having lost 10% of its value since this time last year.

Prices fell by 1% in March and by 3.1% since the start of the year so that the average stood at €253,546 — back to the levels that applied in November 2004 and a full €57,532 less than at the height of the property boom in March 2007.

The figures are compiled in the latest monthly house price index compiled by Permanent TSB and the Economic and Social Research Institute and they represent an average for houses and apartments.