In the year to September 2009 the average asking price for a four bedroom detached house in Mayo fell to €345,264, down 15.05 per cent from when the market was at its peak and down 4.74 per cent since September last year.
The price of a four bed semi-detached house in Mayo now stands at €214,724, down 14.81 per cent since the peak of the property boom and 2.09 per cent since quarter three in 2008.
Mayo has witnessed a slower decline in house prices when you consider that nationally asking prices are down 22 per cent. The average asking price for a four bed is €323,180, €22,184 below the Mayo average, meaning Mayo house buyers are paying more than average when making these huge investments.
That’s according to Myhome.ie’s property barometer.
In Dublin, asking prices have fallen back to late 2004 levels, declining 5.73 per cent in the last year. That’s more than double the decline in prices witnessed in Mayo over the same period. Dublin asking prices have fallen a huge 27.7 per cent since the peak.
Weak demand and fragile consumer confidence over the summer months have contributed to the falling prices.
“The trend of a further stabilisation in prices did not materialise during the third quarter as the rate of decrease in asking prices accelerated once again,” said economist Paul Murgatroyd. “As a result it is clearly still too soon to call a bottom to the current market cycle although with interest rates remaining very low and prices continuing to fall affordability continues to improve.
“Improved affordability alone cannot turn this market and the missing ingredient is confidence, however, there are tentative signs that consumer confidence is stabilising albeit at very low levels historically.
“On a brighter note there now exists solid economic evidence that begins to point toward a stabilisation in the wider economy, with consumer spending levelling out after a period of steep decline, and the rate of growth in unemployment continuing to ease back,”he added. “These are only small, but nonetheless significant steps along the path to recovery which is now widely forecast to occur during 2010.”
Angela Keegan, managing director at Myhome.ie added: “The barometer clearly shows that the market is still in favour of buyers at the current time but sales are still being achieved and property is still moving. The impact of lower asking prices has reduced the selling time from seven months to six months nationally since Q2 2009. In addition we know that first time buyers are slowly gaining access to finance for property purchase which is encouraging, although their outlook on the future remains extremely cautious at the present time. Hopefully as this year progresses and we move into 2010 sentiment will be underpinned by some more positive economic news, the availability of finance for the market generally will gradually become less restrictive and people’s confidence in the economy and the property market will slowly be rebuilt.”
The MyHome.ie barometer is compiled from asking price data collected from a quarterly snapshot of active, available, properties for sale on MyHome.ie This data has been processed using best practice statistical techniques to produce a weighted average of the key indices.
