THE LATEST ESRI/Permanent TSB house price index shows prices down over 35% from 2006, the peak of the housing boom.

The index is based on agreed sale prices and is calculated based on mortgages draw down, shows the decline in the average houseprice was 1.7% from April to June. This is the lowest quarterly reduction since the 2008.

Prices have fallen by 6.4% from January – June of this year. This compares to a drop  of 8.1% for the same period in 2009, but the year on year decline from June 2009 – June 2010 is 17%

The average price for a house nationally was €201,364, compared with €242,593 in Quarter 2 2009 and  €311,078 at their peak.

House prices in Dublin fell by 3.5% from April-June 2010 while prices outside of Dublin fell by 0.8% in the same period.

Niall O’ Grady, General Manager with Permanent TSB said “While prices continue to fall at different levels in Dublin versus the rest of the country, this reduction in Quarter 2 is the lowest recorded quarterly fall in almost two years.  This may indicate that prices are starting to find a more sustainable level after almost three and a half years of decline”

Figures from Daft.ie earlier in the year showed a similar drop in house prices.

Meanwhile, a report this morning says there is an oversupply of housing in Ireland and that over 300,000 houses in Ireland are unoccupied.