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Irish Top 10 Property Blackspots - Biggest Price Drops In Ireland...

Well-heeled south Dublin suburbs, commuter enclaves and student cities have all been devastated by the property price slump. But some have been hit worse than others and the pace of the fall in prices is picking up in some counties and cities. Nick Webb reveals where prices are falling fastest...

1. Galway City

12.2 per cent drop at end of 2008

HOUSE prices in Galway City are falling faster than anywhere else in the Republic, according to new research. In the final quarter of 2008, house prices fell by a staggering 12.2 per cent. That means that between October to Christmas, the average house price in Galway shed €40,000, falling to just over €303,000 or by close to €450 per day.

Galway city house prices have fallen by 21.1 per cent since the height of the property madness in mid-2006, according to Daft findings. The price haemorrhage was slower in Galway county, although it was still the seventh fastest falling market in the last quarter, with prices tumbling 7.2 per cent.

Last week's agent survey by the Irish Auctioneers & Valuers Institute noted an apartment in Salthill had dropped 20 per cent to €390,000. New homes on average were down by 14 per cent.

2. Kerry

Down 10 per cent in three months

PRICES in Kerry crashed 10 per cent in the final quarter of the year, according to the Daft figures. Asking prices in the kingdom had held up relatively well until then, falling just 5 per cent year on year. But since the banking crisis hit with full force, Kerry property has been in freefall.

IAVI members have reported that the price of second-hand homes in Tralee have fallen by as much as 30 per cent, with new homes down 20 per cent. Transaction volumes in Kenmare have plummeted 75 per cent, with estate agents absorbing price falls of about 20 per cent. Irishproperrtywatch.com lists 60 properties with reduced asking prices, ranging from a €160,000 drop on a €680,000 four-bed home in Killorglin to a 19 per cent fall in the price of a Kenmare five-bed home.

3. Westmeath

Down 9.9 per cent in three months

At the outer edges of the commuter belt, Westmeath was always likely to get hit hard by price falls. But in the final part of last year, asking prices crumbled at 9.9 per cent, bringing the average house price down to €232,000. Almost one-fifth of the value of homes in the county has been extinguished since the peak of the market less than two years ago.

Properties advertised with drastically reduced asking prices include one four-bed home in Coralstown with a 40 per cent cut since December. An Athlone terraced home has also seen over 30 per cent slashed off its asking price in the last month.

However, the almost complete shutdown of building projects in 2007 has led to a smaller overhang of properties on the market. Despite this, estate agents report prices of new properties falling from €220,000 to under €200,000. The IAVI survey suggests that the number of transactions has fallen by 50 per cent, although local players indicated signs of increased activity in December.

4. South County Dublin

Down 9.6 per cent in three months

The lawyers, doctors and accountants are getting it bad. South county Dublin could be suffering real falls of as much 60 per cent in some cases, with the well-heeled suburbs of Foxrock, Dalkey and Sandyford absolutely savaged. Asking prices slumped 9.6 per cent in the final quarter of 2008, according to Daft.ie, pushing overall falls since the peak to nearly 21 per cent. The average asking price of a pad in south county Dublin remains the highest in the country at €541,000 -- almost three times the price of a home in Longford. The average house has seen €150,000 slashed off its value in less than 18 months.

House prices in some parts of Dublin are down by as much as 50 per cent, Sherry FitzGerald managing director Michael Grehan revealed last week. Anecdotal evidence from IAVI members suggests that property prices have slumped by up to 36 per cent in south county Dublin.

Monitored property advertisements have shown that there are 259 properties with drastically reduced prices in Dublin. A large five-bed home on Knock-na-Cree Road in Dalkey has had its asking rice reduced from €3m down to €2.175m over the last year. Other recent chops include a €40,000 cut in the price of a Highthorn Park home in Dun Laoghaire, which is now being sold for €660,000 by Gunne's; almost 20 per cent off a new build two-bedroom home in Blackrock village and a near 18 per cent drop in the asking price for a Monkstown four-bed. Asking prices are now lower than at any time since early 2006. New homes have suffered particularly badly, with prices falling 25 per cent in less than two years.

5. South Dublin city

Down 9.2 per cent in three months

From Ranelagh and Rathmines to Crumlin or Chapelizod, prices in the south side of Dublin city centre have been hammered, with falls of 9.2 per cent in the last quarter alone. This brings the total asking price drop to 19.1 per cent since the bubble burst. The south city redbricks held up well enough originally but 2008 was meltdown time, with asking prices falling the most in the capital -- down 16.6 per cent for the year.

Dublin 4 and Dublin 6 prices were hacked, according to IAVI agents. Reductions in the area include €2m off a home in Temple Villas in Rathgar to a €355,000 reduction in the asking price for a house on Scholarstown Road in Rathfarnham. Higher priced second-hand homes have been hardest hit, with suggestions that this sector has tumbled by as much as 40 per cent in some areas. The average asking price of a house in the south city is just under €380,000.

6. Leitrim

Down 8.2 per cent in three months

Ireland's least populated county has suffered a 8.2 per cent drop in asking prices over the last three months of 2008. This has taken the overall fall in prices to 19.5 per cent since the peak of the property boom.

Local estate agents suggest that a large amount of unsold housing stock remains in the market.

One three-bed home in a new housing estate in Tullaghan has seen its asking price dropped twice since October, with offers of €190,000 sought for the property once valued at €240,000. The average asking price for a house in Leitrim is now just over €202,000. Places like Dromohair and Mohill have experienced an 80 per cent drop in the number of sales, with agents pointing to €180,000 valued homes now on the market at €150,000.

7. Galway county

Down 7.7 per cent in three months

With Galway City topping the charts as the Ireland's weakest property market, the surrounding countryside isn't much better off. In the last quarter alone, prices have fallen 7.2 per cent, leaving the average asking price slightly north of €270,000. Galway asking prices remain higher than most other parts of the country apart from Dublin, Cork and certain commuter enclaves. Daft.ie estimates that prices have fallen just 13.5 per cent since the peak, which lags behind most of the rest of the country. The rapid increase in price falls could indicate worrying times for the Galway market.

These include falls of as much as 45 per cent for a two-bedroom house in Dunmore. Most of the price falls were smaller, including a near 15 per cent drop for a number of homes in the Thornberry estate in Barna. A Connemara cottage had dropped more than 30 per cent to €300,000.

8. Donegal

Down 6.9 per cent in three months

The fall in the value of sterling has completely destroyed the cross-border market, where purchasers from the North had helped sustain a healthy market in Donegal. Prices falls are accelerating, tipping past the 6.9 per cent mark in the final quarter alone. Average asking prices in Daniel O'Donnell's county have now hit €221,000, representing a near 18 per cent drop since the height of the boom.

A three-bed home in Greencastle has seen over 41 per cent axed off its asking price, with a four-bed in Castlefin dropping by €250,000 to €500,000. The developer of the Cnoc an Oir scheme in Letterkenny is to guarantee buyers against potential price reductions.

Estate agents have reported a 50 per cent drop in transactions for both new and second-hand homes in the county.

9. North city Dublin

Down 6.7 per cent in three months

North Dublin prices are believed to have fallen by as much as 37 per cent, with grander suburbs such as Howth being particularly badly hit. But Daft.ie estimates that the postcodes closer to the Liffey are being hammered most. It believes that prices have slumped by 6.7 per cent in October, November and December, bringing the cumulative slide to 17.7 per cent since the top of the market.

Sherry FitzGerald has somewhat different figures -- in fact, all the major players have different statistics. The common thread is that price cuts are everywhere and they're not small. Sherry Fitz has suggested that second-hand homes in Dublin dropped by a staggering 7.8 per cent in value in the final three months of 2008, bringing their annual fall to 20.1 per cent in a year.

Some big north Dublin price reductions include: a luxury Castleknock home has seen its asking price cut from €4.5m down to€2.9m. Another pre-1963 redbrick on the North Circular Road has had its asking price cut 26 per cent to €850,000 in the last month, while a rental property on Aughrim Street, Dublin 7, has also dropped by 25 per cent recently.

10. Meath

Down 6.2 per cent in three months

The much maligned Permanent TSB/ESRI house price index showed that property prices in the commuter belt counties of Meath, Louth, Kildare and Wicklow had fallen by close to 14 per cent last year. This represents a fraction of the fall reported by local estate agents. The Permo Index is calculated in a different way to other price charts and has been miles behind the curve for a number of months. Agents in Trim suggest that prices have fallen by up to 25 per cent for both new and second-hand homes. IAVI members noted that Enfield was a major blackspot thanks to the huge oversupply of homes. Falls of up to 30 per cent were noted in the area.



Report by Nick Webb - Irish Independent.

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