Irish house prices continue to fall with average homes now up to 48 percent cheaper than during the height of the 2007 property boom, latest figures from the Central Statistics Offices (CSO) show.

The figures, released on Tuesday, show house and apartment prices across Ireland fell at their fastest annual rate in two years last month, with a particularly sharp fall in Dublin house prices.

Residential properties dropped by 17.4 percent in the year to January, the biggest annual decline since January 2010.

The average price of residential property fell by 1.9 percent in January 2012 after a 1.7 percent drop in December.

Nationally, prices are now 48 percent below peak levels reached in early 2007.

Prices of both houses and apartments Dublin have now plummeted more than 21 percent over the past year.

Dublin's residential property prices fell by 4 percent in January with house prices in the capital down 4.1 percent in the month.

Dublin apartment prices were 18.4 percent lower when compared with the same month of 2011.

Prices of residential property in the rest of Ireland dropped by 0.7 percent in the January, showing an annual fall of 15.1 percent.

The CSO said house prices in Dublin are 55 percent lower than their peak level in early 2007, while Dublin apartment prices are 59 percent lower than in February 2007.

The fall in residential property prices in the rest of Ireland is lower, at 43 percent.

According to a study by Irish property website daft.ie, published on Monday, the majority of potential buyers feel mortgage availability, the recession and unemployment will continue to have a negative impact on house prices in 2012.

However 38 percent of respondents in the survey said they intend to purchase a property in the coming year.