House of pain

If you think we've had it bad in the UK with a depressed housing market.  Spare a moment for the poor old Irish.

Since topping out in early 2007 apartment prices in Dublin are now down by a massive 52% according to the latest figures released by the Irish Central Statistics Office.  Ouch! The average house price is down by a paltry 40% according to data released on Friday.

Whats more is that prices continue to fall with the monthly rate of decline increasing in both February and March of this year according to 8 of the biggest lenders.

Some adventurous property investors see this as a time to invest as exhibited by the popularity of the recent Allsop residential auction in Dublin.

Despite the success I can't see property investors getting excited enough to "Jump Around" as they did during the prior decade.  More a case of "House of Pain" for the next few years at least.

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