Skip to main content

House Prices Plummet...

House prices fall 20pc but owners still battling to sell...



THE average asking price of a house in Ireland has plummeted by almost 20pc over the past year, a new survey has revealed.

And asking prices for residential property in Dublin's city centre have been slashed by almost a third, compared to the same period 12 months ago.

A report by property website Daft.ie reveals that asking prices for residential property fell almost 6pc nationwide in the second quarter of the year, a significantly larger drop than in the first three months and in line with falls in late 2008.

Dublin continues to be worst affected by tumbling house prices
-- the average price tag on a home in the capital is 27pc lower than the 2007 peak, while prices for city centre houses have fallen by 34pc.

During April, May and June of this year, homes in the city centre fell a further 11pc, compared to a 4pc drop for houses in Cork, 6pc in Limerick and a fall of just over 2pc for homes in Galway and Waterford cities.

The report confirms a continued sluggishness in the market, with most homes taking more than six months to sell.

The average time on market for residential sales properties is now over seven months, compared with only six weeks during the boom.

However, analysts said buyers were beginning to respond to smaller price tags.

"The large price drops we have seen in Dublin over the past year appear to have had an effect on the level of transactions in the capital," said Daft.ie economist Ronan Lyons.

"Over the past three months, the percentage of properties coming off the market in Dublin has risen steadily, suggesting that if properties are priced correctly, they will sell."

Oliver Gilvarry, head of research at Dolmen Stockbrokers, said the continued decline in the property market reflected the decline in Irish economic conditions.

Weak

He added that he believed the worst of the crisis was behind us, although economic growth would remain weak for a number of years.

"The collapse of the housing market will also result in a large number of social issues that must be faced by the Government," Mr Gilvarry said.

In particular, falling house prices have resulted in large numbers of owners facing negative equity. A recent estimate suggested that 340,000 people were in this position.

Mr Gilvarry noted that couples may remain trapped in family-unfriendly apartments because they can't afford to move to larger homes.

"These type of situations highlight the need to prevent residential property bubbles in the future," he said.

According to the Daft.ie report, the average asking price nationally in June was €263,000, similar to levels in February 2005, and almost one-fifth below what the same house would have fetched this time last year.

Outside Dublin, drops in house prices were lowest in Munster, down 15-20pc on 2007 peak levels, while Leinster, Connacht and Ulster homes have experienced a 25pc drop since their 2007 peak
.



Report by Grainne Cunningham - Irish Independent

Popular posts from this blog

The State is about to create another housing bubble...

The Irish economy is set to repeat its old mistake of excess mortgage-lending... The run-up to Christmas is always a good time for burying bad news and this year was no different. On the Friday before Christmas, Bank of Ireland announced it was going to have to put more money aside to absorb possible losses on Irish residential mortgages. Just how much more money was not very clear but it would appear to run into several hundred million euro. The statement was extremely technical and did not actually talk about losses or defaults. But the point is clear. The bank had already put aside some money to absorb losses that might occur as a result of people not being able to pay their mortgages. It now seems that more people than expected are going to default and the bank has had to put some extra money aside. It is as timely a reminder as you could hope for that the Irish banks are still broken and still fighting their way through a mountain of problem mortgages as a result of their rec

Ireland's Celtic Tiger Excesses...

'Bang twins' may never get to run a business again... POST-boom Ireland is awash with cautionary tales of Celtic Tiger excesses, as a rattle around the carcasses of fallen property developers and entrepreneurs will show. Few can compete with the so-called Bang twins for youth, glamour and tasteful extravagance. Simon and Christian Stokes, the 35-year-old identical twins behind Bang Cafe and exclusive private members club, Residence, saw their entire business go bust with debts of €9m, €3m of which is owed to the tax man. The debt may be in the ha'penny place compared with the eye-watering billions owed by some of their former customers. But their fall has been arguably steeper and more damning than some of the country's richest tycoons. Last week, further humiliation was heaped on them with revelations that even as their businesses were going under, the twins spent €146,000 of company money in 18 months on designer shopping sprees, five star holidays and sumptu

Top property sales 2016 – who bought and sold...

The year saw a shift from D4 to D6 while the country market slowed on the previous year... DUBLIN... Dublin 6 dominated top-end sales this year and, in particular, Dartry. Whereas in other years coastal south Co Dublin and Shrewsbury and Ailesbury Roads have dominated, Dublin 6 and the area around Temple Road have become hot property. Top of the list was the purchase in May of Alston at 19 Temple Road for a whopping €10.225 million when former Paddy Power boss Patrick Kennedy traded up from his home on nearby Palmerston Road. In a quiet off-market deal, the Victorian property, on one acre, was sold by barrister Vincent Foley and his wife, Helen, who have lived there since the late 1980s. Around the corner at 5 Temple Gardens, €6.5 million exchanged hands when the detached redbrick house on a third of an acre owned by the late barrister and former attorney general, Rory Brady, sold in another off-market deal. Not long after Subiaco at 1 Temple Gardens sold for €5.85 million shortly a