Figures released by the Department of Finance reveal that the monthly sale of secondhand houses has slumped by more than 50 per cent this year. Last January, 5,375 secondhand houses were sold, bringing in €127m in stamp duty to the Department of Finance.

But by October house sales had fallen to a low of just 2,662 sales and a 50 per cent cut in revenue to €68.5m.

Speaking on the issue, Fine Gael TD Richard Bruton noted that these figures "collapsed the government's claim that we were experiencing a soft landing".