Northern Ireland House Prices Rise By 600 GBP Per Week!

The latest quarterly price index compiled by the University of Ulster shows that the average price of a home was ?153,868, an increase of ?31,000 since last year. Detached houses are experiencing the greatest price rise, showing an average of ?237,749 - an increase of almost 30%.

Belfast has also seen the average house price rising by 23.6%, however Lisburn saw the greatest price hike with the average increasing by 44% The report, which was produce in association with the Housing Executive and the Bank of Ireland, covered 2200 transactions reported by 108 estate agents` firms. Terraced and town houses saw an increase of 29% with semi-detached houses rising by 23% and bungalows rising more steadily by 19.7%. Detached bungalows also failed to match the growth of the rest of the market with a rate of 11.9% reaching an average of ?184,045. Apartment prices continued to show a variable performance over time, rising by 19.2%. In Belfast, the overall average price of a home was ?145,051, whereas South Belfast remained the strongest performing area in the city.

All property types in Lisburn experienced rampant rates of increase. Prices in Craigavon and Armagh also saw a 39% annual rise while Londonderry and Strabane experiencing significant growth at more than 30%. The number of properties with a value of less than ?100,000 also appear to disappearing, with only a fifth of the sales (20%) in the ?50,000 to ?100,000 bracket. Louise Brown, one of the authors of the study, along with Professors Alistair Adair and Stanley McGreal, said it was difficult to see how the growth rate of 25% across Northern Ireland could continue. She said: Having said that, the 25% growth in this survey is not a one-off - it's very comparable with the rates of increase during the second half of 2005. These are boom conditions that appear to be the result of strong investment activity, relatively cheap borrowing costs and an undersupply of properties. Despite the housing boom, the average cost of a house in Northern Ireland is ?30,000 lower than those south of the border.

The average cost of properties are: Lisburn, ?188,772; South Belfast, ?188,069; Enniskillen/Fermanagh/South Tyrone, ?169,402; Mid and South Down, ?167,886; North Down, ?166,264; Coleraine, Limavady and the North Coast, ?165,591; East Belfast, ?165,432; Mid Ulster, ?163,446; Antrim/Ballymena, ?155,319; Craigavon/Armagh, ?144,157; Derry/Strabane, ?140,747; East Antrim, ?120,163; West Belfast, ?113,052; North Belfast, ?107,673.

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