House prices fell again in July, but not by as much in previous months, according to the latest permanent tsb/ESRI House Price Index. Could that ‘bottoming out’ which some economists have been speaking about regarding the housing market finally be materialising?
Average national prices dropped by 0.2 per cent in July, which compares with reduction of 0.6 per in June, 1.2 per cent in May, 1.1 per cent in April and 0.7 per cent back in March.
During the first seven months of the year, national prices fell by 5.2 per cent, compared with a drop of five per cent to June ‘08 and a fall of three per cent to July ‘07.
The average price paid for an Irish house in July came to €272,946, which compares to €287,887 last December and €302,605 in July’07.
“Transaction volumes were light during the summer and it’s likely that this was a factor in the very low decline in average prices during July,” permanent tsb’s Niall O’Grady in reaction to the latest figures.
While Dublin house prices fell by 0.6 per cent in July, house prices outside the capital dropped by 0.4 per cent.
The average prices paid for a house in Dublin and outside Dublin in July 2008 stood at €377,316 and €235,622 respectively. This compares to the December ‘07 prices of €397,507 and €249,359.
