IRELAND’S RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY market is still in steep decline as house and apartment prices fell for the ninth consecutive month, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office.

The CSO’s latest Residential Property Index showed that property prices fell by 1.2 per cent in May 2011 alone, and are down by 12.2 per cent in the last year.

Prices were up moderately in Dublin, though only by 0.4 per cent, with the capital’s residences still valued 11.5 per cent lower than last year. House prices specifically were up by 0.3 per cent, but were 10.9 per cent lower than in May 2010.

Outside of Dublin, property prices were down by 2.1 per cent, and are now down by exactly one-eighth in the last year.

The continuing declines mean house prices in Dublin are now 46 per cent lower than at their peak, with apartments down by a massive 53 per cent since February 2007.

In the rest of the country, the national index is down 41 per cent from the peak.

The last time property prices increased was in September 2007, when prices were over two-thirds higher than they are now.

Prices have fallen for every month since, with two exceptions (November 2007 and August 2010) when they remained flat.