The Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute (IAVI) has seen a dramatic fall in property prices in its annual property survey, it announced today.
The worst affected area of the country was Dublin, where residential property prices fell by an average of 10%, with some sectors such as second hand apartments fairing much worse, with falls of up to 17%. Second-hand urban homes saw falls up around 14%, completely wiping out gains made in 2006.
The rest of the country was less badly affected, but still saw price falls sufficient to wipe out most of the gains made in 2006.
The IAVI is predicting further average price falls of around 4.1% in Dublin in 2008, with falls of around 3% in the rest of the country.
IAVI President Robert Ganly was upbeat on the results of the survey, saying that while they made for tough reading, they did show that the worst of the current difficulties in the market had passed:
“This survey shows that average residential rents in Dublin rose by approximately 4%, and by similar amounts across the country. This indicates that there is a strong underlying demand for property that will become active once the current uncertainty passes.
In addition, we are able to predict that prices will fall in 2008, but not by nearly as much as they did in 2007. This levelling off should begin to reverse itself in early 2009, and we would hope to see the property market growing again some time during that year.
The impact of the Government’s stamp duty reforms has yet to be felt, and we feel that these will have a measurable, positive, impact on the residential market, - although there is more that the Government could do to help other sectors.
Overall, I would say to people that the market is beginning to stabilise. The worst is over.
We have campaigned tirelessly for over a year for action on the housing market, and we are only glad that the Government sat up and took some of the steps required, even if it was a little to late to prevent the figures I’m announcing today from coming to be”
Irish Property News , 20 January 2008
