A report from property website MyHome.ie has found that asking prices for homes fell by 3.2% in the final three months of the year. This brought the fall for the whole of 2010 to 13.1%.
The website said prices had now fallen by 34.6% from the market's peak in late 2006. The average price is now €271,000, compared with €312,000 a year ago.
MyHome.ie said asking prices in Dublin fell by 3.4% in the quarter, bringing the total fall last year to 15.2%.
Overall, prices for new homes fell by about the same as second-hand homes, 3.4% and 3.2% respectively. Limerick city recorded the biggest price fall in the three months, with a decline of 7%.
The author of the report, Annette Hughes of DKM Economic Consultants, said it was clear that consumer sentiment remained fragile heading into 2011.
'Although prices are back to 2002 levels it is clear we have not yet reached the bottom of the market,' she said.
Ms Hughes said accessing credit remained difficult for some potential home-buyers. She added that the amount of unsold and vacant housing stock on the market, along with the precarious financial position of some households following the Budget, would also continue to affect the housing market.
But Ms Hughes said that, with affordability now back to mid-1990 levels, some of those who were priced out of the market during the boom years may be enticed back into the market during 2011.
