House prices drop by over a third to 2002 rates

HOUSE prices have fallen by over a third since the peak of the boom and are back at 2002 rates, according to latest figures.

The latest Permanent TSB/ESRI housing report shows a 10.8% drop in prices last year and this follows a 18.5% drop the year previous.

Auctioneers Savills say they think the drop has been more severe in the first-time buyer and top-end of the market in Dublin and Cork where they claim prices may be back at levels last seen in 2000.

“The three and four-bed market has certainly held up better than the townhouses at one end and the luxury homes at the other,” said head of research Joan Henry.

The Permanent TSB/ESRI report found the average price being agreed for a house at the end of last year was €191,776, compared with €215,086 12 months earlier, and €311,078 at the spring 2006 peak.

Two surveys published earlier this month by Daft.ie and Myhome.ie revealed prices were down about 40% since the 2006 peak.

The Permanent TSB/ESRI study also looked at the Dublin market in isolation and found average prices down 15.1% over the year to €237,480.

Outside the capital the average was down 8.1% to €174,570.