More than €3,000-worth of goods are stolen in an average burglary, with jewellery the favoured item for thieves.

A new report shows that €72m-worth of goods has been stolen from houses over the past year, and jewellery accounts for a third of all property taken.

The next most popular items for house-breakers were electrical appliances, accounting for 22pc of all goods stolen, with cash accounting for 23pc.

The report also reveals that November is the worst month for burglaries and that householders are most likely to be raided on a Sunday, between noon and 4pm.

Dublin is Ireland's burglary hot-spot, with a third of all robberies.

Half of house-thefts occur in the greater Dublin area and the commuter belt.

The figures, contained in the Eircom PhoneWatch Burglary Report, also show that 80pc of robberies take place while the occupants of the house are at home.

Afraid

In light of the economic turmoil, people are more afraid than ever of being victims of burglaries, with 77pc of people feeling that they are at more risk now than ever before.

Nearly 70pc of people said that they had become more security conscious since the recession, the report states.

Commuter counties and those with large cities, such as Cork and Limerick, are at the top end of the scale when it comes to burglaries.

Kildare is the second-most crime-ridden, followed by Cork, Wicklow and Limerick.

The least number of burglaries occurred during the summer months of July and August.

The figures suggest that burglars prefer the winter because they can appear and disappear under the cover of darkness.

Burglars are most likely to make their entrance into the house through the front door, with 20pc of all burglaries occurring in this way.

Bigger homes are also most likely to be affected, with 90pc of all robberies taking place at homes with three or more bedrooms.

The report also highlighted the need for more homes to become security conscious, as almost 40pc of victims of burglaries had no alarm system.

According to the study, the numbers of break-ins are down 12.6pc since 2005.

Spiked

But these figures were contradicted by the latest crime statistics released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), whose data suggests that the number of burglaries had spiked in the past few months.

The CSO data illustrated that the number of burglaries in the third quarter of 2009 had rose significantly by 26.2pc when compared with 2008.

hnews@herald.ie

- Cormac Byrne