HOUSE PRICES in Northern Ireland plunged by more than 28 per cent last year, according to new research which confirms that 2008 was the worst year for the housing market in nearly 30 years.
A new report to be published today by the University of Ulster shows property prices fell across the North in all categories.
Detached bungalows suffered the biggest price drop in 2008, falling by 34.9 per cent over the year to an average £218,216. Semi-detached houses also fell but at a much slower rate than other properties, declining 26.4 per cent to an average £166,102.
Property prices in Belfast held up better than most areas in Northern Ireland last year, declining on average by 20.9 per cent. However the market in Coleraine, Limavady and the north coast region witnessed the worst slump in Northern Ireland as 42.1 per cent was wiped off property values in the area.
The average price of a property in the area fell back to £162,191.
The authors of the report, Prof Alasdair Adair, Prof Stanley McGreal and Louise Brown from the University of Ulster, said the latest research showed Northern Ireland “is being exposed to the full rigours of the market downturn”.
Confirmation of the sharp decline in the North’s property market last year is also reflected in the university’s latest quarterly house price index, which recorded a very low volume of house sales in the final quarter of 2008. There were just 704 transactions in Northern Ireland in the last three months of the year.
The index, produced in partnership with Bank of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, shows the overall average price of a house in Northern Ireland in the final quarter was £168,185 – a drop of 16.6 per cent on third-quarter values.
