Many homes are not selling and those that are being sold are doing so at considerable discounts according to estate agents and auctioneers.
'There is no question that the property market is going through a crisis period at the moment and I think to call it anything else would be understating it,' said Edward Carey, President of the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute which represents property sellers.
He also points out that a further indicator of the slowing market is an expectation of more job losses in the industry by the end of the year.
Sellers are not reducing actual advertised prices but when it comes to completing the sale prices are well below those advertised, he said.
'Any of the agents that we are talking to are basically saying the same thing – places are not selling. What is selling is selling at a considerable discount. The reasons are lack of confidence and primarily lack of finance and lack of availability of finance,' he added.
The price of property in Ireland has dropped by some 20% since 2006 and there have been a number of redundancies in the sector. Lisney, one of the country's biggest estate agents, is cutting staff salaries by 10%. Mr Carey said he expected there to be cuts in the newer entrants to the market.
'I would expect the first places that you are going to see job losses are the more recent entrants to the business. I also feel the more recent entrants would be people who would concentrate primarily or solely on residential, where the biggest downturn is occurring,' he concluded.