Asking prices fall 3.7% in the third quarter of 2010

Asking prices for residential property around the country fell by an average of 3.7% during the third quarter of 2010, according to the latest report published by property website Daft.ie. The national average asking price for property has fallen 37% since the peak and now stands at €195,000, while the average time to sell a property is now 8.4 months, down from 9.1 months since the start of the year.

In Dublin asking prices fell by 3.3% during the past 3 months, while in Cork and Waterford prices dropped by about 1.5%. Prices in Galway and Limerick were largely static during the summer months, while outside the main cities, asking prices fell by an average of 4.3%. The largest falls were seen in Longford, Kilkenny and Monaghan, which saw asking prices drop by up to 10% in three months.

Ronan Lyons, economist with Daft.ie said: "The key driver of house prices at the moment is the mismatch of supply and demand. Many would-be first-time buyers still lack either the confidence or the finance to enter the sales market. As a result, the total supply on the market still remains very high. The total stock on the market has been close to 60,000 for over two years now."

"Nonetheless, there are properties selling," Lyons continued. "Of the 5,000 properties listed for sale during April, about two in five have now sold. Evidence from the capital suggests that more realistic sellers find it easier to sell. In Dublin, where prices have dropped by significantly more than elsewhere, only about one in three properties listed for sale in April is still on the market."

For further information please contact:

Ronan Lyons (086 604 5655), Daft.ie - media@daft.ie

Notes to the editor:
Daft.ie is Ireland's largest property website. The latest audited report from ABCe (March 2010) shows traffic of 129,980,100 million page impressions (pages of information received) and 1,734,860 unique users per month across Daft Media's property websites (daft.ie, rent.ie, let.ie, property.ie). Daft.ie is now the number one property website in Ireland across all demographics, from first-time-buyers to commercial property investors.

About the Daft.ie House Price Report
The Daft.ie House Price Report, now in its 36th edition, is based on an analysis of the full database of properties posted for advertisement on Daft.ie up to 30th September 2010, including the 33,000 posted in the second three months of 2010. This figure represents a large percentage of the available properties for sale in the country and therefore gives a very accurate and timely reflection of what is actually happening in the Irish property market. Figures are calculated from econometric regressions using standard methods. Properties classed as sold are those that are no longer listed in daft.ie which were marked as sale agreed before coming off the site.