Fall of 0.8 per cent in North’s residential property prices

The cost of buying a home in the North has fallen for the first time in four years as average property prices in the first quarter of the year fell to just over £124,000 (€145,000), latest official figures show.

The Northern Ireland House Price Index, which uses stamp duty information – the tax paid on property or land purchased in the UK – to measure the change in the price of residential property sold in the North, shows a fall in residential property prices between quarter four 2016 and quarter one 2017 of 0.8 per cent.

The last time there was a similar fall was in 2013.

The index highlights that there was a total of 4,379 properties sold during the first quarter of this year which is lower than in the previous four years.

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Although the average cost of a home fell in the North there were some district council areas where the price of residential property rose, these included Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Derry City and Strabane, Mid Ulster, and Newry, Mourne and Down.

The biggest fall in property prices between quarter four of last year and quarter one of 2017 was in Mid and East Antrim where prices dropped by 3.1 per cent to an average of £114,932 (€134,025) while the largest increase in property values was in Newry, Mourne and Down which showed an increase of 2.3 per cent settling at an average of £130,322 (€152,000).

This compares to Belfast where property prices fell by 2.3 per cent to an average £115,868 (€135,136).

The latest Northern Ireland House Price Index shows that in general most property types dropped in value with only semi-detached houses showing no sign of decline.

Apartments suffered the biggest slump in value from the last quarter of 2016 to the first quarter of this year dropping to an average price of £97,242 (€113,413).

Although the latest quarterly review of prices may not be encouraging for homeowners currently selling properties, annual house price trends are more upbeat.

According to the latest index, over the 12 months between quarter one 2016 and quarter one 2017 local house prices increased by 4.3 per cent.