Signs of stability in house prices

House prices have plummeted a third since the property bubble peak but the rate of decline eased considerably in the first three months of the year, new figures reveal.

The asking fee for homes around the country dropped 3.4%, the smallest quarterly fall in almost two years according to property website Daft.

Although the length of time houses remain on the market has increased nationwide, the number for sale in the Dublin region has dropped around a fifth since mid-2009.

Brian Lucey, Professor of Finance at Dublin’s Trinity College, warned the crash was not over predicting a further 18 months before the market bottoms out.

“So the crash is slowing. However, it is not over,” Mr Lucey said.

“It is probable that as we decline towards the trough, the speed at which house prices fall slows down. And this is what we are starting to see – in the last six months, the average decline has been lower than the previous six months, itself lower then the period before.”

Mr Lucey said previous research suggested prices could bottom out at 50% from peak to trough.

Average house prices stand at €234,000 nationally – down 33% on prices experienced at the height of the housing boom in 2007.

The extent of the decline in the first three months varies across the country, with Dublin, Wicklow, Waterford and Cork in line with the national average of 3.4%.

Prices were unchanged in Sligo and Roscommon. But Galway was the worst hit with prices falling 8.8%.

Since the peak, nowhere shows a decline of less than around 25%, with Dublin experiencing falls of 44% for properties in the city centre.

In Louth, prices are down 41%, while the smallest decline has been in Kerry at 24.8%.

House hunters can find Longford the cheapest at 151,217 euro.

The length of time properties remained on the market has risen across the country, including in Dublin where it jumped from four months to five months.

The amount of houses for sale on the market has plummeted by a fifth in Dublin since mid-2009, and around 5% nationally.

But Mr Lucey said much of the decline in Dublin was from houses on the market for more than six months.