NI House Prices Rise Is Fastest In UK

There's good news today for home owners in Northern Ireland.

New figures show that the Province is now enjoying the biggest upward change in property values of the whole UK, at 9.7%, followed by the South West at 4.9% and the outer Metropolitan region of London at 4.7%.

Overall, house prices rose by 0.9% in September according to Nationwide.

This is the fifth consecutive monthly increase, and is pushing property values up to levels last seen a year ago.

Commenting on the figures Martin Gahbauer, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said: "The recent upward momentum in house prices has continued into September, with the price of a typical house increasing by 0.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis.

"The three month on three month rate of change – generally a smoother indicator of the near term trend – rose from 3.3% in August to 3.8% in September, the highest level since August 2004.

"At £161,816, the average price of a typical UK property was essentially unchanged from a year earlier, representing the first time since March 2008 that the year-on-year rate of change has not been negative.

"Over the first nine months of 2009, the seasonally adjusted index of house prices has risen by 4.1%, though relative to the October 2007 peak it is still down by 13.5%," he said.

Mr Gahbauer continued: "The further increase in house prices is very much consistent with improvements in a broad range of economic and financial indicators over the last few months, all of which suggest that the most intense phase of the recession and financial crisis has probably passed.

"However, given that the housing market still faces considerable headwinds in the form of high unemployment, restrictive credit conditions and an impending withdrawal of the stamp duty holiday, it would be surprising to see house prices continuing to increase at the very strong rate seen in recent months."

(CD/KMcA)