Report from estate agents confirms that property prices are falling across the country.
There is evidence of a slowdown in the property market with houses taking longer to sell, estate agents have been laying off staff and sellers have been adjusting their expectations.
Research published by estate agents show that house prices are falling.
This is the first time that estate agents have come out in numbers with data that proves that house prices are on the way down.
Douglas Newman Good (DNG) put the fall in Dublin over the past three months at 2.8 per cent, while Sherry FitzGerald, the country's largest estate agent, puts the decrease in prices at 4 per cent.
Marian Finnegan, economist with Sherry FitzGerld, points to a fall in consumer confidence whereby people are delaying their decisions to buy or sell.
Paul Murgatroyd, economist with Douglas Newman Good, does not expect the fall in prices to result in negative equity in the housing market. He says that while prices may continue to fall, it is expected that they will recover quickly in the second half of next year.
I don’t expect there to be any hint of negative equity falling into the market.
RTÉ reporter George Lee says that the fall in house prices is indicative of a recession but points out that it would be difficult to find an economist working for an estate agent that would use the word 'recession’ for fear of starting a panic.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 4 October 2001. The reporter is George Lee.
