House prices fall 10.6% in 12 months

House prices have fallen by 10.6 per cent over the last 12 months, according to the latest figures from the Permanent TSB/ESRI house price index.

The index shows the rate of house price decline accelerated to 1.1 per cent in September from 0.9 per cent in August.

The September figure indicates prices fell 7 per cent during the first nine months of the year, knocking around €20,000 off the average asking price of a house which stood at €267,594 last month.

Niall O'Grady of permanent tsb said: "There is little surprise in these figures which continue the pattern of recent months. Looking ahead, we expect this pattern to continue for some time as both consumer confidence and the economic outlook for the year ahead remain weak."

House prices fell more outside Dublin, according to the index. Dublin house prices fell by 0.8 per cent in September while house prices outside Dublin fell by 1.6 per cent.

During the last 12 months house prices in Dublin have fallen 8.4 per cent while those outside the capital are 11 per cent lower now than September 2007.

The average price paid for a house in Dublin last month was €371,288. Outside Dublin the average price was €228,945.

For the commuter counties near Dublin house prices were 1.3 per cent lower in September at an average of €292,497.

Separately, data from the Central Statistics Office today showed that construction output was down 26.5 between April and June this year.

In the residential sector the fall-off was 47.3 per cent while non-residential construction grew by just 1.1 per cent.