07/02/2014

NI House Prices Continue To Increase

House prices in Northern Ireland continue to increase, a new study has found.

At the end of 2013, prices were said to be 'marginally higher' than the beginning of the year.

The findings have been published in the University of Ulster's quarterly house price index. It revealed that in the first quarter of 2013, the average cost of a property was £131,128, but by the end of the year it had reached £132,922.

The figure was based on 1,758 transactions. Incidentally, this is also the highest number of sales recorded since the housing peak in 2007. Predictions for prices, transactions and mortgage volumes also look positive.

Breaking the results down by location, North Down was found to have the highest average house price at £171,829, while Londonderry/Strabane had the lowest at £99,322.

The report is produced in partnership with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and the Bank of Ireland.

Alan Bridle, Economist at Bank of Ireland UK, said: "The latest survey offers further evidence that 2013 was the year of 'bottoming out'.

"While local markets will inevitably stabilise and recover at different paces, there is a healthy momentum for Northern Ireland as a whole coming into 2014, with the outlook for transactions, average prices and mortgage volumes more favourable than compared to recent years."

The Housing Executive's Head of Research, Joe Frey, added: "Affordability remains a key issue for lenders and policy makers. We hope that the new composite Measure of Affordability developed in partnership with University of Ulster, which takes into account deposits and not just house price to income ratios,will provide a more nuanced insight into the on-going challenges faced by first-time buyers, by lenders and indeed by policy makers attempting to address the challenges of a very complex market."

(JP/CD)

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