Irish house prices fall by 3.3% since start of year

House prices fell again in August to bring the rate of decline to 3.3 per cent since the start of the year, according to the latest Permanent Tsb/ESRI house price index.

The index shows house prices nationally fell 0.3 per cent in August following on from a 0.4 per cent drop in July.

As a result, the average price paid for a house in Ireland in August was €300,375, compared with €306,173 in August 2006, a fall of 1.9 per cent over 12 months.

During the 12 months to the end of August 2007, house prices in Dublin fell by 0.6 per cent. Outside Dublin they dropped by 2.9 per cent over the same period.

Houses in the commuter counties of Louth, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow around Dublin showed some of the sharpest falls, dropping 1.3 per cent in August, bringing to 5.4 per cent the fall in prices in these areas over the year to date.

According to Permanent Tsb/ESRI estimates the average price of a house in these areas is €325,568, down from €344,186 in December 2006.

Niall O'Grady, head of marketing at Permanent Tsb, said: "While we have seen attention-grabbing stories about declines in the asking prices for some houses, the index confirms that the actual rate of change in house prices across the country remains modest.

"Since the start of this year, prices have declined by 3.3 per cent on average."

Among the different types of property bed semi-detached house prices grew by 0.9 per cent in August, although they remain down 3.4 per cent on the year as a whole.

Purchasers buying their second or subsequent property paid on average 0.2 per cent less in August than in July and 3.5 per cent less than in January. First-time buyers were paying 3.6 per cent less than at the start of the year, and an average of €268,904.