A second property price report has found prices are falling. But its authors insist we are not heading for a new property price collapse.

Asking prices fell in the first three months of the year, according to MyHome.ie – it is the third consecutive quarter of values coming down. They were down by 0.3pc in the first quarter, but are up 3.2pc on the year.

Homes are now being sold for just 1pc over asking price compared with 6pc this time last year.

Last week, a Daft.ie report had similar findings of falling asking prices for properties.

MyHome.ie said Dublin house prices had fallen for four consecutive months and were now 2pc below the peak levels they hit in September last year.

But the authors of the report say a range of factors mean they do not expect a freefall in prices, something that happened when the Celtic Tiger blew up.

These include scaled-back expectations of further European Central Bank ( ECB) rate hikes, new lending rules, and continued robust demand.

The report’s authors said the property market was instead experiencing a correction due to stretched valuations.

This is particularly the case for Dublin, where the average January price was nine times the average income. This is almost double what people are permitted to borrow under Central Bank lending limits.

Annual asking price inflation for this year is now forecast at 1.5pc, an analysis of the MyHome.ie report by Davy Stockbrokers economist Conall Mac Coille has found.

The typical asking price for a home nationally is now €310,000, down 0.3pc in the first three months of the year compared with the previous quarter.

​Dublin’s typical, or median, asking price is now €395,000, down 0.8pc on the quarter, and down 0.6pc in the last year.

Outside Dublin, prices continue to rise, with the median asking price now at €265,000, up 0.2pc in the quarter and 5pc in the last year.

MyHome.ie said a modest slowdown in asking price inflation had continued in the first quarter. The market is constrained by poor supply and affected by a range of both positive and negative factors.

Similar to a recent Banking and Payments Federation Ireland report, the property website also found first-time buyers are borrowing more.

This comes after the Central Bank relaxed its lending rules, allowing new buyers to borrow up to four times their income.

The average mortgage approval for first-time buyers hit a fresh record high in February of €281,350.

Just 13,600 properties were for sale on MyHome.ie in the first three months of this year, which is still well below the pre-pandemic figure of 20,000.

Mr Mac Coille, the author of the report, said the data suggested that frothy pandemic-era valuations were now cooling off.

However, he said the surprise decision by the Central Bank to loosen the mortgage lending rules will, in time, put upward pressure on house prices.