Irish house prices fall by 3.3% since start of year

House prices fell again in August bringing the rate of decline to 3.3 per cent since the start of the year, according to the latest edition of 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 the last 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 alone, 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.