A new report shows house prices fell by 1% in the last three months of 2014.

The Daft.ie research indicates this is the first national decrease in house prices since the middle of 2013.

But despite the recent fall, the average asking price for a house nationwide is now €193,000, which is up €22,000 when compared with the end of 2013.

Ronan Lyons is an Economist at Trinity College, and the author of the Daft.ie report - he says planned changes in mortgage rules have had an effect:

Meanwhile, Permanent TSB has announced that it is cutting its variable mortgage rates for new customers.

The bank says it will reduce its interest by between 0.36% and 0.42%.

The new variable rate for mortgages of between 70 and 80 percent of the value of the house will drop by nearly half a percent to a 4.7%.

Karl Deeter from Irish Mortgage Brokers and Advisors says PTSB's changes are a significant step:

However, a second report on property prices says the cost of buying a home rose in the last quarter of 2014.

The MyHome report says prices rose by 0.6%, compared to a report from Daft.ie which says prices actually fell.

But both reports say the cost of housing rocketed by over 14% last year - a rate not seen since the Celtic Tiger years.

Economist Caroline Kelleher wrote the report for MyHome - she says that sort of increase simply can't continue: