Daft Property - Irish Property News

Economic downturn wipes 50pc off value of homes... LARGE detached family homes in the capital have halved in value in the downturn. Estate agents admit four- and five-bedroom detached properties in Dublin are now only fetching 50pc of their 2007 prices. This means upwardly-mobile couples who shelled out an average of €1m at the height of the boom years are now sitting in a house worth just €500,000. The Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute (IAVI), which represents auctioneers around the country, says that houses nationally are now worth 40pc less than at the peak. Connacht has seen the smallest drop in house prices but even these are dramatic. The average two-bedroom townhouse in the region has fallen in value by 27.7pc. Things are much worse in Dublin for struggling homeowners who are seeing themselves plunged further into negative equity as prices have plummeted by half. But this is all good news for buyers with cash today. The IAVI annual property survey released shows that new t

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&

A 50pc descent from peak to trough... IF there is one economic certainty for 2009 it is that Irish house prices will continue to fall just as the economy accelerates in reverse. Even the most bullish of commentators or indeed vested interests have pencilled in 2010 as the earliest date for a turnaround. According to the ESRI, which is now firmly in the bear's camp, prices are likely to end 2009 at the same level as the last half of 2003. This means anyone who bought from 2004 on is very likely to have a home worth less than they paid for it. With the economy set to decline by 5 per cent or more and employment to fall by as many as 140,000 jobs resulting in double digit unemployment figures, people will simply hold off on most purchases. According to Jim Power, chief economist at Friends First this deterioration in the labour market with massive job losses and increased job uncertainty as well as downward pressure on wages will keep sentiment pretty negative. The result, he says, wi