House prices now half price

Irish homeowners who bought at the peak of the housing boom are suffering severe financial indigestion this week after reports show that prices are now less than half of what they were at the moment when that boom went bust.

The average asking price is now just over €175,000, more than half of the €366,000 demanded when property prices peaked in 2007, according to the findings of two surveys.

The Irish Examiner reported that according to Daft.ie, asking prices fell almost eight percent between last September and December and this was the largest quarterly fall yet.

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"The 7.7 percent fall during the final quarter of 2011 meant the overall drop for the year was 18 percent - equivalent to the other declines in the past three years. In the quarter, Dublin saw an average fall in asking prices of 8.9 percent, while the fall in Cork was 5.4 percent," the daily reported.

The other survey, by MyHome.ie determined that transaction prices in Dublin were back to 2000 levels.

It put the annual rate of decline in asking prices last year at 13 percent with house prices down by 2.4 percent in the last quarter.

"According to MyHome.ie asking prices nationally are down to 43%percent compared to the peak in the third quarter of 2006, with Dublin prices down 50 percent over the same period. New houses saw the smallest price fall - just one percent, with the average price at €230,000. The average price of a secondhand home is €237,000, down 2.5 percent," the Examiner report said.

 

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