HOUSE PRICES CONTINUE to drop across most of the country but increased slightly in south county Dublin between July and September, according to two new reports published this morning.

The average asking price for a house in Ireland now stands at €167,000, a drop of more than 3 per cent from the previous quarter, according to figures from the latest Daft.ie House Price Report.

The national average price is down by 54 per cent since property prices hit their peak in early 2007.

Prices are also down 14 per cent on the same period from 2011.

However the report found that house prices in parts of south county Dublin bucked the trend by rising by 2.8 per cent in the quarter.

Of all the cities in Ireland, Waterford saw the biggest drop in prices between July and September this year, with a fall of 9.3 per cent. The other cities saw smaller drops: Limerick (-3.7 per cent), Galway (-2.6 per cent), Cork (-0.6 per cent) and Dublin (-0.5 per cent).

Ronan Lyons, economist at Daft.ie said that report showed that the property market varies hugely across the county and that policymakers need to stop thinking in terms of Ireland as one national property market.

(Image: Daft.ie)

A separate report by MyHome.ie found that prices in Dublin have risen by 1.6 per cent – the first increase for 6 years.

The report found that the rate of price falls has begun to level off across the country with an average decline of just over 2 per cent in the third quarter of this year.

Overall, prices dropped by 14.3 per cent compared to the same period last year and the average asking price for a house is now €207,000.

Note: Daft.ie is part of  Distilled Media Group. Journal Media Ltd has shareholders – Brian and Eamonn Fallon – in common with Distilled Media Group.

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