The average house price in Ireland declined 9.7 per cent in the 12 months to June, the latest permanent tsb/ESRI House price index has shown.
This figure accelerated slightly from the 9.5 per cent fall seen in the 12 months to May.
However, things could get worse for the property market, with predictions from Goodbody Stockbrokers that property prices will have slipped by about 12 per cent by the end of the year.
The stockbroker estimates that prices have already fallen 12.1 per cent from the peak levels seen in early 2007.
The average price of a house in Ireland fell by 0.6 per cent in June, the 16 consecutive month that Irish house prices have fallen. Despite the slowdown in the rate of decrease month to month, Goodbody said it is still expecting to see ongoing monthly declines "for some time yet".
The average price for a house in Ireland in June stood at €273,392, compared to €287,887 in December 2007 and €302,605 in June last year.
In Dublin, house prices declined by 0.2 per cent in June, compared to 0.8 per cent elsewhere in the country. For the first half of the year, prices fell in Dublin by 4.5 per cent and by 5.1 per cent outside the capital.
Commuter counties of Louth, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow saw 1.4 per cent knocked off the value of houses during June, compared to 0.9 per cent in May. The average house in the commuter belt fell from € 321,403 in December 2007 to €302,541.
Nationally, average prices have fallen by 5 per cent in the first half of the year, with the biggest drop so far this year seen in May, when prices fell 1.1 per cent.
New house prices suffered more in the market, declining 6.1 per cent in the first six months of 2008, compared to the 3.9 per cent decline seen in second hand homes.
"Price reductions are continuing nationally and while there have been reductions in all segments of the market, the sharper fall in the price of new houses reflects a more aggressive approach by developers in order to stimulate some market demand," said Niall O'Grady, permanent tsb.
