Estate agents said house prices in Northern Ireland continued to rise last month despite growing inflationary pressures, an industry body has said.
RICS (the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) said a slim majority of agents reported rising prices over the last three months of the year, although the increase is at the slowest rate since May 2020.
The dent to sentiment has been blamed on concerns around recession which is dissuading potential homebuyers from making major financial decisions, as well as continuing tightening of household budgets due to inflationary pressures and rising interest rates.
That has kept new buyer demand in negative territory, the survey said, although the fall in demand is at the lowest rate since last July.
While waning demand is pressuring the market, a lack of supply is continuing to underpin prices. That has meant Northern Ireland’s estate agents are the least pessimistic of all 12 UK regions, the survey said.
Last month’s survey also assessed buyer interest in energy efficiency, something which has become more important as energy prices have risen.
When asked if respondents are seeing greater interest from buyers in homes that are more energy efficient, around 40% of the survey sample answered yes, although this was outweighed by 60% who said they do not see this trend. Meanwhile, 41% of respondents noted that sellers were attempting to attach a price premium on homes with a high energy efficiency rating.
“2022 was certainly an eventful year in the economy and mortgage markets,” Samuel Dickey, RICS Northern Ireland Residential Property Spokesman, said. “And overall, whilst 2022 was a busy year for housing market activity, December, as expected, proved to be a relatively quiet month.
“At the beginning of 2022, we saw extremely high levels of demand and enquiries, which eased towards the end of the year. This isn't surprising, given higher interest rates in recent months. The ongoing lack of supply is also unsurprising as many potential buyers have taken a wait and see approach and we would expect limited stock to continue to be a factor in the market in 2023."
