Published: Tuesday, 30th December, 2008 2:00pm

This could be the year to buy!

The value of our homes could fall by as much as 35 per cent by the end of this year Mullingar auctioneer Pat Davitt has predicted. But for buyers, this could be very good news.

House prices, which reached a peak at the end of 2006, could plummet in the next 12 months reaching 'very realistic' levels which will in turn provide an 'excellent' opportunity for first time buyers to get on the first rung of the increasingly shaky property ladder.

Mr Davitt"s is predicting that life will become a little bit easier for the man and woman on the street in the coming twelve months.

'People are obsessed with negatives. Every time we buy something let it be even a car or a washing machine we have negative equity, talk of the banks folding and on and on. But the reality is that life in 2009 could be a lot easier than people think.

'If we look back 20 years to 1989 wages were only a fraction of today, interest rates changed every month and were be as high as 14 or 15 per cent property was worth a lot less than it is now. Even with the current check in the property market properties from 1989 have risen by up to 300 per cent to date.

'There is also the fact that people who are trading up will not lose out in the long run but actually make money in the current market.

'For example if you bought your house for €300,000 in 2006 and can only get €200,000 for it now, but you are trading up for a house that was bought for €500,000 in 2006 and is now only worth €350,000 you are making €50,000 on the transaction.

'You would be trading up from say a three bed-semi to a four-bedroom detached house, so you are getting a bigger, better property for €150,000 less and although you might have sold your current house for less than you paid for it you could still be making a profit in the long run,' he said.