Irish property prices fall for second successive month
DUBLIN, March 25 (Reuters) - Irish residential property prices fell for the second successive month in February, dropping 0.4 percent to slow a recovery from a real estate crash that has pushed prices 14.9 percent higher than a year ago.
The month-on-month drop last month followed the first contraction for 10 months in January, with property prices in Dublin, which led the recovery, falling by 0.7 percent in February to stand 21.4 percent up on a year earlier.
While prices across Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) are 39 percent below their 2007 peak, the central bank introduced restrictions on mortgage lending in January to try to ensure price rises do not return to unsustainable levels. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Alison Williams)