Drop of 11 per cent in prices sought for Westmeath houses

Householders in Westmeath are asking almost 11 per cent less for houses than they were a year ago, according to the property website, Daft.ie.However, the slump may be slowing down, the figures show, as the fall in the year 2009 was of 21.5 per cent.According to the firm, the asking prices for two bed homes in Westmeath now averages €112,000; three beds have an average asking price of €155,000; four beds of €200,000 and five beds of €242.Asking prices in Westmeath are now back 42 per cent on peak levels.Unusually, Westmeath appears to have fared better over the course of last year than many of its neighbours. The drop in asking prices in Meath is in the order of -19.9 per cent; in Longford of 11.9 per cent, and in Offaly of -16.5 per cent.The typical time it takes to sell a property remains high but has fallen from 41 weeks to 36 weeks over the course of the year.2010 marks the fourth year of correction in Ireland's property market, with a fall of 14% compared to a fall of 20% in 2009. Ronan Lyons, economist with Daft.ie, said: “Despite another year of price falls, the market does not yet look in balance. On the supply side, the number of properties for sale remains very high, at close to 60,000, while on the demand side, a range of factors continue to weigh on prospective buyers, including tight credit and expectations of higher taxes and interest rates in coming years.”“Nonetheless, not all parts of the country are adjusting at the same pace,” Lyons continued. “Parts of Dublin have seen price falls of up to 50%but through his sister, Margaret, Queen of Scots.Anne herself was daughter of Richard de Mortimer, the 4th Earl of March, and Eleanor Holland of Kent, who was Lieutenant of Ireland, and who was killed in a battle at Kells, Co. Kilkenny, at just 24 years of age. His father, Edmund, the 3rd Earl of March had extensive lands in this country, and built a castle at Faughalstown, on the shores of Lough Derravaragh, described in 1826 in an anglers' book as being in ruins, with just the foundation lines visible, and “a very small relic of one of the inferior buildings of the fortress”.The writer, Gregory Greendrake continued: “The castle, which covered, including its area, more than an acre of ground, was surrounded by a deep ditch, and, judging from the lines of its foundations, it was on the plan, and could not have been much, if at all, inferior in magnitude, to the castle of Trim.”It is not clear where exactly at New Forest, Anne de Mortimer was born – nor why it was there that she was born and not at Faughalstown.Read inside for more names in our “Lakeside Legends” series. Over the coming year, we will be writing fuller biographies of the names featured. Anyone wishing to suggest further candidates for the series is more than welcome to contact us with the details.