House price decline as cash sales rise

House prices continued to decline in 2011, but cash sales on houses are increasing, a new report has found.

According to a new survey by Chartered Surveyors Ireland, the value of a second-hand three-bedroom semi-detached in Dublin declined by 12.6% last year.

This compares to declines of 17.1% in 2010 and 19.8% in 2009.

Declines in Munster for the same sort of property hit 9.3%, while in Connaught there were drops of 15.2%.

"There's an increasing number of cash sales taking place," said Chairman of the residential group of Chartered Surveyors in Ireland Ed Carey.

"There's a restriction in the supply of good-quality properties, where the fundamentals of properties are sound, in other words, where there's a good type of property in the right location in at the right price where are a number of sales getting over the line."