14% Drop In Property Sales In Last 12 Months

House prices in Ireland fell by 14% during the 12 months leading to September, according to a report published today.

Second-hand homes dropped in value, on average, by 5.9% during the third quarter of this year, estate agent Sherry Fitzgerald also revealed.

Homes in Dublin dipped higher than the national average, with around 15.7% wiped-off the cost of properties.

Over 7% was knocked-off the price of houses in Dublin during the last quarter alone.

"From a peak in June 2006, the average price of a second-hand property in Dublin has now fallen by 23.4% in nominal terms or 32.8% in real terms," said economist Marian Finnegan.

Ms Finnegan said the rest of the country was almost a year behind the decline.

Falls in Cork hit 4.7% during the last three months, with a 12.7% deflation in value during the year.

"All areas of the country are now enduring significant price falls with the upper end of the market most affected to date," Ms Finnegan said.

A mere 10% of the properties traded in the past year were bought-up by investors, compared to 17.6% last year.

Thirty-eight percent of property attained in the year proceeding September was sold to first time buyers.

This was up slightly from 34% during the same period in 2007.

There was also a 4% drop in the amount of vendors selling investment properties, from 29% in 2007 to 25%, according to Sherry Fitzgerald.

(PR)