Irish property price falls accelerate in February

DUBLIN: Falls in Irish house prices accelerated to 2.2 percent month-on-month in February from a 1.9 percent drop in January, tumbling for the 51st month in succession, official data on Monday showed.

Ireland's property bubble burst in 2008 after years of reckless lending, leaving banks with huge losses and homeowners with hefty mortgage repayments. Prices are now 49 percent below a 2007 peak, according to the Central Statistics Office.

Property prices in Dublin fell by 1.2 percent in February and are 57 percent below their peak.

Economists polled by Reuters this month expect national property prices to fall by 10 percent in total this year before stabilising in 2013.