Property prices continued to fall last month, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office.
The CSO's Residential Property Price Index shows that property prices fell by 1.2% in May after a 1% drop in April. In the year to May, property prices fell by 12.2% across the country, the same figure as in April.
Property prices in Dublin rose 0.4% in May, though they are still down 11.5% over 12 months. The CSO warns, however, against reading too much into individual monthly figures. The Dublin rise was due solely to an increase in house prices, as apartment prices continued to drop.
In the rest of Ireland, property prices dropped 2.1% in May, with prices 12.5% lower than in May last year.
House prices in Dublin are now almost 46% lower than at their highest level in early 2007. Apartment prices in Dublin have fallen almost 53% from their peak in February 2007. Outside of Dublin, the fall from the peak is 38%.
The CSO's residential property price index is designed to measure the change in the average level of prices paid for residential properties sold in Ireland.
The index is mix-adjusted to allow for the fact that different types of property are sold in different periods and starts from 2005.
