House prices continue to fall in February, in the wake of January’s upward tick, producing the first year on year decline since 2014, national statistics agency CBS said on Wednesday.

Compared with February 2022, house prices were down 0.8%. Month on month the change was 1.5%, taking the average price now paid for a home to just over €410,000.

The downward trend, prompted by rising interest rates, started in August last year, when the average price paid for an existing property was €446,000.

The land registry office reported almost 12,000 transactions last month, down 15.5% on a year ago. Almost 25,000 deals were agreed in the first two months of the year, a drop of 11% on the same period in 2022 as the shortage of supply continued to bite.

A year ago prices were rising by around 20% on an annual basis. ‘All things considered, the price level is still very high. There is a relatively modest correction to an insane level,’ CBS chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen told news website Nu.nl.

Economists have suggested that house prices will go down by a further 6% in 2023, in line with 2022, and may fall again next year.

The CBS statistics measure sales when they are reported to the land registry office. Other house price figures provided by the real estate agents association NVM reflect homes sold by its accredited agents.