ASKING PRICES in Dublin have fallen back to 2004 levels, according to new research from myhome.ie.Paul Murgatroyd, an economist at the website, says "it is clearly still too soon to call a bottom to the current market cycle". A report earlier in the week from Permanent Tsbalso found that house prices are now back to 2004 levels.

Myhome.ie’s research found that the average asking price for a house nationally is €323,180 (a drop of 4.27 per cent on the last quarter) while in Dublin it’s €385,993 (a bigger drop of 5.73 per cent on the last quarter).

Just as crucially is the rate of decline – and there’s no good news there either for house sellers or homeowners worried about negative equity. The rate of decrease in the third quarter of the year was faster than in the second quarter.

In the new homes market the average asking price has fallen below €300,000 and is now €294,835 for the first time since 2005. Remember, though, that’s an average, as falling price tags on some new, poorly located estates have seen prices drop below €100,000.

Asking prices in the new and second-hand markets are now down by 14 per cent compared to 12 months ago. Crucially, it’s worth noting that the researchers for this property barometer focused on “asking prices”, presumably because there is so little movement in the market.

But Angela Keegan, managing director at myhome.ie, spotted a reason to be a tiny bit optimistic. The impact of lower asking prices has reduced the selling time from seven months to six months nationally since Q2 2009.

Confidence in the market, the report concludes, is simply not there for now.