House prices nationally fell 9.1 per cent last year with the average price of a home falling over €26,000 to €261,573, according to a new report published today.
The Permanent TSB/ESRI house price index notes that is account is taken for inflation over 2008 the equivalent to a decline in real house prices for the year was 13.2 per cent.
According to the index for December, price falls in the second half of the year at 4.3 per cent were broadly comparable to the decline in the first six months of the year of 4.8 per cent. The 2008 price decline follows a fall of 7.3 per cent in 2007.
Niall O'Grady, of permanent tsb said after a decade of "exceptional growth, we've entered a period of retrenchment in house prices" and that the commuter counties were facing the most intense pressure.
"We don't expect any significant change in the established pattern of this year and are guiding therefore to a further decline in average national prices in the order of 10 per cent during 2009 with some significant variations to that in different areas."
Properties in the commuter counties of Louth, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow recorded the sharpest declines over the year, dropping by 16.8 per cent, and by 4.5 per cent in December alone.
The average price for a house in these counties last month was €267,265.
Prices for properties aimed at the first-time buyer market declined 14 per cent over the last year and the average price paid by first-time buyers last month was €224,153, over €36,600 less than 12 months ago.
For second-time buyers prices have dropped by 7.8 per cent over the last 12 months and dropped 0.4 per cent last month.
Purchasers of a second or subsequent property paid an average of €296,302 last month, according to the report.
