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Dublin: 16 °C Sunday 19 May, 2013

Worst in the world: new figures reveal extent of Ireland’s property crash

Of all the countries surveyed by Global Property Guide, Ireland experienced the worst house price decline in the past year.

Image: [File photo] Photocall Ireland

NEW FIGURES HAVE revealed that Ireland experienced the worst average house price fall in the world last year.

According to Global Property Guide Ireland’s house prices were down 14.84 per cent year-on-year for the second quarter of 2011, compared to 11.83 per cent in 2010.

Ireland is quite a way below the country which came second last – Bulgaria on 10.65 per cent – while Spain and Greece are both in the bottom five.

Only 13 of the 39 reporting countries experienced house price increases.

The Netherlands, Slovak Republica, Croatia, Spain and Greece joined Ireland on the list of countries which performed worse than in the previous year, while Germany, the UK, Sweden, and Portugal were among the countries which sunk back this year after a recovery last year.

Norway was one of the few European countries which say an increase in house prices, up 5.93 per cent. Estonia, France and Iceland also saw rises.

Global Property Guide reports that the US housing market is “alarmingly weak”, due to high unemployment.

Hong Kong saw the largest house price increase of all the country’s surveyed with a rise of almost 20 per cent, while Thailand and Taiwan also saw large rises.

Brazil recorded the second largest house price rise in the world, while other Latin American countries which were not included in the survey due to figures not yet published were also expected to reflect the upward trend.

In July the CSO reported that residential property prices were falling at their fastest rate in over two years, and indicated that prices had fallen by nearly 13 per cent since June 2010.

Read more from the Global Property Guide’s report>

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Comments (16 Comments)

  • Irish house prices were and are able to fall deeper than in any other country because they were and some still are ridiculously higher than anywhere else.

    Reply
  • As long as we have the idea that increases in house prices are a “good” thing then we have a problem. Housing is an expense, something we spend money on that could otherwise be spent on other things.

    If bread, or fuel, or education get more expensive we complain but if housing is more expensive it’s a good thing? Rot and nonsense. If we could make housing cheaper we could have more people living in nice houses, or with money left over to spend on other things. Would that not be “good”?

    Reply
  • Hey Charlie McCreevy, Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowan —

    I hope you three clowns are enjoying your lunch !

    Reply
  • I am surprised that local authorities have not sought to renegotiate their contracts with private landlords given the availability of vacant property. In Dublin, say, a local authority pays a landlord 1000 euro per month, and the tenant pays an ‘additional’ 150 euros for a typical 3-bed. With property continuing to fall, one wonders why local authorities aren’t out buying at very keen prices ratter than supporting the private rental market.

    Reply
  • prices still over inflated and have further to fall .

    Reply
  • http://quotesfromthebubble.blogspot.com/

    Always worth a chuckle and a handy reminder not to take 99.999999999999999% of politicians, hacks or ‘experts’ seriously. Most of them are still walking around, getting a platform to spout their rubbish with a straight face.

    Reply
  • Well said Hugh Sheehy

    Reply
  • Time for housing cooperatives in Ireland, we don’t need big mortgages from the greedy banks!!!

    Reply
  • Bollocks!!!

    €100 Per week or maximum of €500 per month on your capital and interest mortgage or your rent is enough to pay, for a clean decent home in a good area for you and your family to live in.

    It was never really worth a cent more.

    I’m sad to say If your paying over this then having a residence is overrated.

    Comparatively look what our Western European Comrades pay and have always paid
    (outside London,Paris,Monaco etc. of course) for a decent roof over their head.
    In stable economies with 100′s of banks competing for their business.

    Reply
  • As long as the Irish people allow ourselves to be trampled on by the Government and their agencies, this kind of practice will continue.

    Reply
  • Please post comment again Niall.

    There has been many suicides in our area aswell.

    It is the real tragedy in all of this.

    A tragedy that our media and our leaders seem to give little time to.

    Reply
  • I posted a comment last night about the state of the country,suicide etc,it took me some time to do this.I just checked this morning,you had it scrapped.I would be grateful if you would explain why you did this,you could have let it run for a few more hours.What I had to say might have helped or spurred on someone to do something about this sorry state.

    Reply
    • Hi Niall,

      I’m afraid I have no record of your comment being posted, and it wasn’t deleted. A technical error on either your side or ours may have resulted in it not being posted, but it wasn’t scrapped.

      Thanks,
      Emer

      Reply

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