The Green Party has welcomed figures indicating that house prices in Ireland have dropped.

The figures, from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), showed property prices fell by 1.4% nationwide in January, and by 1.9% in Dublin.

However, residential property prices in the capital are still 21.6% higher than this time 12 months ago, and 15.5% higher nationally.

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The party's representative Councillor Ciarán Cuffe said: "This halt in the trend towards unaffordable home prices is to be welcomed, and will give a sigh of relief to the many people looking for a home. Exorbitant growth rates in recent times have put both residential and rented property out of the reach of many people, and I hope that this is a start towards a cooler market with more affordable prices.

"One hopes that this is partly a result of the recently introduced mortgage lending rules by the Central Bank. I supported those new regulations as I believed they would put some brakes on the runaway housing market, as well as prevent first time buyers from being overloaded with unsustainable mortgage debt."

(CD)