Who would have guessed? House prices in Dublin… May 1, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Economy, Uncategorized.trackback
…fell again in the first quarter.
The Permanent TSB/Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) House Price Index shows prices in Dublin fell 10.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2010 compared to a 3.5 per cent drop outside the capital.
Over the 12 months to the end of March, the decline in Dublin was 24.5 per cent, and compared to a fall of 23.4 per cent in 2009.
The average price for a Dublin house at the end of March was €250,872, compared with €279,753 at the end of 2009.
This was in comparison to…
The explanation from the industry?
Niall O’Grady, Permanent TSB’s general manager for business strategy, said the steep fall in Dublin prices reflected the fact that values in the capital rose more quickly than in the rest of the country during the boom.
Dublin also had proportionately more investment properties and was suffering disproportionately because investors have left the market, he added.
In January, on foot of figures which demonstrated a 19% drop nationally Mr. O’Grady said:
2009 as a “horrendous year” for the Irish housing market.
Factors such as shattered confidence, significant oversupply and a weakening economy created a vicious circle, he said.
“The pessimist will say there’s worse to come. The optimist will argue that affordability has improved so much that things will stabilise soon. But the realist will admit we’ll have to wait and see,” he said.
Still, everything should be fine because back then…
In a separate report, property website MyHome.ie, which is owned by The Irish Times Limited, predicted that average asking prices for residential property will decline by a further 10 per cent this year.
It will be most interesting to see if the figures converge on that 10% nationally. I wouldn’t bet the house on it.
And neither would Mr. Grady:
House prices face further steep falls as the year progresses, and Mr O’Grady said despite some predictions of a slight recovery, there is little prospect of this before 2011.
Hmmmm…
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
Well, I guessed, based on the sense that McWilliams and others were making. I purposely didn’t buy because of it, and I’m now waiting for the fall to hit bottom before buying a home. But a lot of people bought this nonsense in the past decade, and they’re now shackled to impossible mortgages in an era of layoffs and paycuts – and as the Central Banks reminds us, just because taxpayers’ money is saving the banks doesn’t mean that same taxpayers get any mercy on home repayments!
But of course McWilliams and the rest being right means that the D4 chattering classes – and especially their oracles in the Irish Times and RTÉ – will ignore them all the more now.
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