€100,000 wiped off the value of average home
CLOSE to €100,000 has been wiped off the value of the average house in the property collapse, new figures reveal.
Prices have crashed by 31.5pc since the market peaked in early 2007, with the average house price now €213,000, the Permanent TSB/ESRI house price index shows.
Prices fell 18.9pc last year alone as the pace of decline picked up in the last two months of 2009. Average prices fell by 3.1pc in November and by 3.6pc in December, compared with a fall of 1.1pc in September.
There have now been 34 consecutive months of house price declines. The fall of 18.5pc for last year compares with a fall of 9.1pc in 2008.
From a peak of €311,078, the average house price has now dived to €213,183. This means the average house has fallen in value by €97,895 since the peak of the housing bubble in February 2007. Permanent TSB's Niall O'Grady said the figures deteriorated as the year progressed, with an 8.5pc reduction in average prices in the last three months of last year.
This was more than twice the pace of decline of any other quarter since the fall commenced. He added: "The pessimist will say there's worse to come. The optimist will argue that affordability has improved so much that things will stabilise soon. But the realist will admit we have to wait and see."
Dublin house prices fell by 4.3pc in December, while there was a reduction of 2.5pc in prices for houses outside Dublin. In November, prices fell 0.4pc in Dublin but by 2.6pc outside the capital. Over 2009 as a whole, house prices fell by 20.6pc in Dublin and by 15.3pc outside Dublin.
The average price for a house in Dublin is now €278,767, a fall of €72,329 from the price in December 2008.
Meanwhile, property website MyHome.ie forecasts a further 10pc decline in asking prices in 2010 in its residential property outlook for the year ahead.
- Charlie Weston Personal Finance Editor
Irish Independent
