First, we need to get our terminology right. To date, Ireland’s property crisis has been described as a slowdown, a downturn and a slump.

But today the Sunday Times Property Price Guide 2009 shows that we’re in the grip of nothing less than a full-blown crash — and, by world standards, a severe one at that.

In recent months, property agents have claimed that successive price surveys have not come close to reflecting the grim reality they have been experiencing on the ground. Now, with the help of our guide, you can realistically assess for the first time how the crash has affected the value of your home.

This survey is more accurate than any other; to put it simply, no rival survey is as specific as the Sunday Times Property Price Guide.

Here we examine the performance of more than 20 types of property in more than 60 individual micromarkets. We have achieved this using a nationwide panel of more than 60 estate agencies, all with hands-on experience in their specific locales.

Furthermore, the Sunday Times Property Price Guide 2009 is not based on asking prices. Nor is it based on data gleaned from mortgage customers who purchased their homes six months ago. It’s not based on what you think or hope your home might be worth — the price that you might, as a prospective vendor, ask an estate agent to achieve.

The following figures are based solely on the figures that our agents, working on the ground, know they can sell your home for in the current market.

So here comes the reality check. On average, prices have fallen across our surveyed markets by 20% since this time last year.

In general, the areas that have been hit hardest are in Dublin, where a third of Ireland’s population lives. Most postcodes in the capital have experienced price falls of between 25% and 35%.

To put this in context, Britain’s big property “crash” of the 1990s saw house prices lose 30% across what was almost a decade. In Ireland, many locations have shed that much in just the past 12 months.

Generally speaking, apartments and new apartments have been the biggest losers. With investors shying away from buy-to-lets, new one-beds in Dublin’s city centre have seen their prices tumble by about €100,000.

The following tables show what each property type can be sold for today, the price it would have achieved a year ago and, speculatively, what agents believe it might be worth in a year’s time.

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