Irish property prices fall in february

Irish property prices fell in February, according to the latest data from the Central Statistics Office.

The CSO figures show the prices of Irish property fell by 2.6 per cent year-on-year last month, a slight improvement upon the annual rate of decline of 3.3 per cent recorded in January and significantly better than the decline of 17.8 per cent recorded in the twelve months to February 2012.

Residential property prices fell by 1.5 per cent in the month of February. This compares with a decrease of 0.6 per cent recorded in January and a decline of 2.2 per cent recorded in February of last year.

In Dublin residential property prices fell by 0.3 per cent in February but were 3.0 per cent higher than a year ago. Dublin house prices fell by 1.0 per cent in the month but were 2.5 per cent higher compared to a year earlier. Dublin apartment prices were 7.8 per cent higher when compared with the same month of 2012.

“However, it should be noted that the sub-indices for apartments are based on low volumes of observed transactions and consequently suffer from greater volatility than other series,” added CSO report.

The price of residential properties in the Rest of Ireland (i.e. excluding Dublin) fell by 2.1 per cent in February compared with a decline of 3.0 per cent in February last year. Prices were 6.1 per cent lower than in February 2012.  House prices in Dublin are 55 per cent lower than at their highest level in early 2007.

Apartments in Dublin are 59 per cent lower than they were in February 2007. Residential property prices in Dublin are 56 per cent lower than at their highest level in February 2007. The fall in the price of residential properties in the Rest of Ireland is somewhat lower at 49 per cent. Overall, the national index is 51 per cent lower than its highest level in 2007.