Irish house prices halve in two years

Property markets continue to crash right around the world.

One of the worst affected is southern Ireland. Property prices in Dublin have dropped by 52% since 2007 – and one in five buyers today are paying cash.

A report by the Irish Times looks at data on 192 house sales in the city in the first four months of this year. Almost all had been on the market since last year, and some since 2007.

Only two of the 192 properties sold for above their asking prices and both were in low price brackets.

The report also reveals why Irish auctioneers no longer reveal the prices they have achieved.

This is because in Ireland it is illegal to give out exact prices without the written permission of both buyer and seller. Auctioneers used to say ‘in the region of’ when revealing prices, but the National Consumer Agency threatened prosecution under the Consumer Protection Act unless they gave exact prices.

The Agency had warned that some prices had been deliberately exaggerated as the market fell.

However, it is known that the number of auctions in Ireland has fallen sharply from 1,500 in 2006 to just 127 last year.