Daft.ie Ireland's busiest property website, today released the Daft Report for Quarter 4 2006 on the Irish property market.

The Daft report shows that over the country as a whole a fundamental downward shift in house price expectations occurred in the last three quarters of 2006. The overall growth in asking prices in 2006 was just 3.8%. Although substantially lower than other market indicators, the Daft Report identifies trends far faster than other sources as calculations are based on asking prices as opposed to closing prices. Since it takes three to four months from when a property is first advertised to when a sale is finally closed, the trends in the Daft Report are up to four months ahead.

We at Finfacts have noted the substantial fall-off in second-hand property advertising in the traditional media, since late September 2006. Compared with an average of 45 full pages carrying multiple advertisements in the Irish Times Property Supplement, up to September end, the numbers in the four weekly issues in 2007 including today, were - - -1, 2, 5 and 5.

While newspaper property advertising has plunged, there has been more than a quadrupling of listings on Daft.ie. There were over 55,000 properties for sale listed on Daft in the last quarter of 2006 compared with 12,000 the previous year.

Although there was little growth in asking prices in Quarter 4 2006, Daft says that there were some extraordinary regional variations that run quite contrary to this trend. Sligo town experienced the fastest growth in house prices, growing 18% in the last 6 months of 2006 alone. Swords and Tralee also performed strongly with 13.5% and 11% growth respectively. Asking prices in Dublin City have not grown since July 2006. Nevertheless, some areas in the capital still managed growth, with Clondalkin and Mulhuddart coming out on top with 7% growth in the latter half of the year. This is in stark contrast to nearby Clonee and Maynooth, where asking prices decreased by 9.4% and 8.8% respectively.

Explaining these variations, Damien Kiberd, Economic Commentator, said:  "With the capital gearing up for significant high rise development the appetite for some suburban locations may be on the wane. Very significant competition among developers, particularly in North and West County Dublin where new suburbs are under construction tilted the market balance in favour of buyers, with developers forced to offer “extras” such as top class kitchens, designer planned gardens and “neighbourhood/lifestyle concepts” in order to achieve sales”

Donegal is the cheapest county in the country to buy a property. There you can get a 5-Bed property for approximately €317,000. This compares to €2.3 million for the same property in Foxrock, South Dublin. Limerick is still the cheapest city, however this might be changing, as asking prices grew by over 11% in quarter 4 of 2006 - 20 times faster than Cork City over the same period.

Commenting on the report, Brian Fallon, Director Daft.ie, said, “With the now clichéd 'soft landing' being the consensus amongst economic commentators, the real news from 2006 is the transition from a sellers to a buyers market. First-time-buyers can breathe a sigh of relief as the double-digit house price inflation of the last 10 years is finally over and with it the pressure to get on the 'ladder' before it's too late.

Supply is now at an all time high. There were over 55,000 properties for sale listed on Daft in the last quarter of 2006 compared with 12,000 the previous year. This vast choice means that buyers can afford to be choosy and also take their time finding the right place without the fear of prices shooting up.”

Global Survey: Cost of typical management level house in Dublin, Ireland, could buy 9 similar houses in Houston, Texas, 3 in Amsterdam, 2 in Sydney and almost two in Tokyo