The housing market in Northern Ireland continues to push higher, according to latest government data, shrugging off concerns around the cost-of-living crisis amid a continued dearth of supply.
Land & Property Services said the average price of a house in the province stood at £169,063 in the second quarter of this year, a jump of 9.6% on the same time last year.
The report, which is based on HMRC data, showed that larger homes increased at a faster rate, with detached homes up 10.8% and semi-detached up 10.1% while terraces and apartments were up 8.4% and 6% respectively.
Such a trend is thought to be a sign of a rebalancing in the housing market in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic with more people working from home on a regular basis. It also plays out in the regional variation with more rural areas such as Ards and North Down and Mid Ulster recording the largest house price gains while Belfast, once the leading light when it came to the property market, recorded the lowest increase over the year of just 6.6%.
It would appear the market has performed admirably since the pandemic.
Richard Ramsey, Chief Economist at Ulster Bank, pointed out that average house prices in Northern Ireland have increased by over 20% since the fourth quarter of 2019 before the pandemic began. He said the hike over the last two-and-a-half years is more than double that experienced in the same period before the pandemic hit.
While prices are being bolstered by a continued lack of supply – illustrated by another fall in the number of new houses being built – Mr Ramsey said the next two-and-a-half years are unlikely to witness similar levels of growth.
“This scale of price growth over the next 2.5yrs is extremely unlikely,” he said. “The cost-of-living crisis, interest rate hikes, tax rises and increased uncertainty/declining consumer confidence are major headwinds will hit housing market.
“Almost all factors are conspiring against market.”
To put the latest market moves into perspective, average house prices are still 25% below the peaks reached in the wake of the financial crisis in 2007,
