Property prices in Ireland are continuing to fall – with apartments now worth less than half their peak value in 2007.

The latest figures from the country’s Central Statistics Office show that 2011 falls are greater than those experienced in 2010.

Residential property prices dropped by 1.6 per cent in August compared to July, a larger monthly decline than anything recorded between January and August when the average fall was 1.4 per cent.

On a national reading, residential prices are down more than 43 per cent compared to their peak in September 2007 with apartments down a whopping 57 per cent in Dublin where houses have dropped by 48 per cent.

The CSO report also offers no hope that the market has bottomed out as it proves, again, that residential prices in Dublin have suffered more than those outside the capital.

Dublin prices fell 3.8 per cent in August for residential property, the second largest monthly decline ever and just below the 3.9 per cent drop in March and April of 2009 when the market collapsed.

House prices in Dublin were down 3.4 per cent on July and apartments down by 6 per cent, the biggest drop recorded. Outside the capital, prices fell by 0.3 per cent in August. They are now 40 per cent off their 2007 peak.