Two reports on the housing market show that prices fell by about 15% last year. The surveys from property website Daft.ie and the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute show a substantial drop in property prices nationwide.
Daft.ie's report says asking prices for houses fell by almost 15% in 2008, with the decline picking up pace in the final three months of the year.
Daft.ie said the average asking price for a house across the country fell by €58,000 to €295,000 in 12 months. It said South County Dublin had been hardest hit, with typical asking prices in the area now more than €150,000 below their peak in mid-2007.
Daft.ie economist Ronan Lyons said house prices in some counties may take longer to recover because of a glut of properties on the market. He said figures suggested that as much as 10% of properties are for sale in counties such as Roscommon, Cavan and Leitrim.
The report also said that there was a gap between new properties coming on the market, whose average asking price was almost €303,000, and those which had been on the market but had changed their price (€293,000). It said this suggested that newly-listed properties were over-priced.
The statistics are based on properties advertised on Daft.ie for a given period. The average monthly sample size for sales during 2008 was over 12,000, says the website.
Meanwhile, a new survey by the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute shows a substantial drop in property prices nationwide. It also shows that there has been a significant decrease in retail and office rents.
This IAVI member survey shows that new house prices in Dublin fell by 15% in 2008. Added to a 10% fall the previous year, this suggests that prices have plunged 25% since their peak in 2006.
Outside of Dublin, the survey showed new houses losing about a fifth of their value from their peak price.
Falls in the prices of second hand homes have also been severe. Last year an 18% drop was recorded in Dublin with the average decrease outside Leinster standing at 15%.
There was a steep fall in the prices of apartments with the cost of new and second hand apartments dropping by up to 20%. The survey attributes this to the rise in unemployment as those involved in the construction and hospitality sectors are more likely to buy apartments than houses.
The survey also shows that rents for retail and office spaces are substantially down with prime retail rents per square metre in Dublin having fallen by around €600 over the course of last year.
