Delivering his housing market outlook for 2008 on Monday, IIB chief economist Austin Hughes has forecast a 5% fall in house prices this calendar year, with about 40,000 completions this year and builders reducing output in response to the drop off in sales. He said the slowdown in the housing market had been more acute than he had predicted last year and expected job losses to be in the region of 25,000-30,000. Mr Hughes said that he believed a number of factors could contribute to improving sentiment in the housing market this year. These would include the European Central Bank reducing interest rates, an improvement in the underlying trend in the fall off in house prices, and a reduction in supply. http://www.iibbank.ie/

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