ALMOST HALF of Irish consumers expect house prices to continue to fall over the next one or two years, according to a survey by the Irish Banking Federation (IBF).

The survey, undertaken by Amárach Research, shows that 40 per cent of consumers expect residential property prices to decrease in the next few years, compared with just 9 per cent in last year's survey.

Only 16 per cent of respondents expect an increase in prices, compared with 49 per cent last year.

Consumers have become more risk-averse as the economy slows down, the research confirmed.

Almost half said they disliked taking risks when considering financial products, while 37 per cent said they would be cautious when taking risks. The majority of consumers favoured a safe investment approach with lower returns over high risk with high returns.

Friends and family remained a key influence on financial decision-making, with 57 per cent taking advice from friends and family members.

While nine out of 10 consumers are savers or investors, many are not doing enough to promote their own financial interests - 34 per cent do not regularly review the performance of their investments, while 33 per cent do not know how their investments have performed in the past year. Four out of 10 consumers do not know the value of these assets, while 33 per cent do not review rates paid on savings against other offerings.

The survey also found that consumers were not planning properly for the future, with 21 per cent having nothing in place as a potential source of retirement income.

"There is a complete mismatch between people's expectations of when they are going to retire and their actual behaviour in terms of what they are doing to make sure they can retire at the time they say they want to retire," said IBF chief executive Pat Farrell.