House prices down 7% in last three months

The property website Daft.ie has confirmed that asking prices for houses in Westmeath have more than halved since the peak, and the slide is continuing. In the last three months of 2011, asking prices fell by 7%, which represented a significant increase over the 4.6% fall recorded between June and September. The average asking price for a house in Westmeath is €147,000 - at the peak of the boom, it was €300,000. Bad as things are, the fall has been less dramatic than in some midland counties. Westmeath's fall from peak is -50.9% , but in Longford, the change is -57.4% ; in Laois, -56.2% ; in Offaly, -53.5%; and in Meath, -53.3%. Westmeath is one of the cheapest counties in which to buy a house, the figures show. The only counties with an average asking price lower than Westmeath's are Longford, at €104,570; Leitrim, €114,514; Laois, €127,004; Roscommon, €128,609; Cavan, €129,779; Waterford, City €136,876; and Offaly €145,533. The fall nationally in asking prices was of 7.7% in the final three months of 2011 - the sharpest three-month fall to date. In total, according to daft.ie, the fall nationwide over the course of 2011 amounts to 18%, as large as the fall in 2009. The average asking price is now €175,000, 52% below the 2007 peak of €366,000. The area with the largest fall in prices in the final three months was Galway, -14%. New figures outline the speed at which properties are selling. In Dublin, about half of properties sell within six months, while in Connacht and Ulster, it takes a year. Properties that don't sell within the first few months typically find it difficult to find a buyer in subsequent months: most will still be on the market after a year.