HOUSE prices have fallen 5pc this year, wiping €14,500 off the value of an average house – with last month seeing the worst price falls for 11 years.
The price paid for a new home in October was €295,469, compared to €309,963 the same time last year.
Dublin has seen sharper falls than the rest of the country, with prices now down 5.6pc since the beginning of the year, the latest Permanent TSB/ESRI house index shows.
The index indicates the de-cline in house prices accelerated in October, falling by 1.3pc. This compares with a fall of 0.3pc in September. The October fall was the largest decline since the index began in 1996.
Second-hand houses fell by 2.3pc in October, to take the fall for the year so far to 7.7pc. This means the price of the average second-hand house across the country has plunged by €24,000.
A typical house is now changing hands for €292,896, according to the figures.
Outside of Dublin, house prices are down by 4.7pc in the first 10 months of the year.
First-time buyers have seen prices drop by 6.1pc over the past year. This has made the average home for a new buyer €17,227 cheaper, at €261,776.
The fall in the prices of new homes for the first 10 months of this year has not been as dramatic, at just under €10,000.
In October, new house prices fell by 1.3pc.
The fall in new house prices prompted Davy Stockbrokers’ Rossa White to call on developers to start seriously cutting prices, a move he said would result in sales picking up.
Mr White said the economy could absorb a decline of 10pc or more in house prices.
Permanent TSB’s Niall O’Grady commented: “There’s little surprise in the figures for October, which confirm that there was little spark in the market during the traditionally strong autumn selling season.”
Economist Dermot O’Leary, of Goodbody Stockbrokers, predicted there will be further declines in the coming months.
If prices continue to fall at the same rate, the full year fall in house prices will be 7pc, Mr O’Leary said.
Further falls will take housing affordability levels back to normal, allowing more first-time buyers to purchase their own homes, he added.
