Average house sale price is £106,500

Published 10 Feb 2012 14:11

Fermanagh has been one of the cheapest places in Northern Ireland to buy a home, according to a new survey.

In the last quarter of last year the average sale price of a house in Fermanagh and South Tyrone was £106,500.

Only in North Belfast, where the average sale price was £76,927, was property selling for less according to the latest University of Ulster Quarterly House Price Index.

At the other end of the scale and on the other side of the city, South Belfast topped the property ladder with an average sale price of £224,301.

The House Price Index also shows that across Northern Ireland prices fell by 10.7 per cent in 12 months but suggests there are "tentative" signs that the property market is stabilising.

It also reveals mixed fortunes for different types of properties with the average price of terraced and town houses falling by 0.1 per cent and detached houses by 3 per cent.

The number of house sales in Northern Ireland continued to show a rise in the final quarter of 2011 although prices were generally still falling.

There were 960 sales compared with 684 in the same quarter in 2010, a significant improvement on the year suggesting that the limited market recovery in terms of sales had not stalled.

The authors of the report - Professor Alastair Adair, Professor Stanley McGreal and Dr. David McIlhatton - said: "The Northern Ireland housing market has closed the year in much the same way as it started. Although the market is showing some tentative signs of stabilisation, it is still rather thin in terms of transaction levels with average prices tending to be lower rather than higher.

"This survey shows that recovery in the Northern Ireland housing market is still not deeply embedded and remains vulnerable to economic circumstances and to the seasonal vagaries of the market which become more apparent during periods of thin market conditions," they said.

Looking to the future, Alan Bridle, an economist at Bank of Ireland UK, said: "This year offers more of the same pattern as many households continue to face economic and financial head winds that will inevitably constrain demand for house purchase and house finance. The prospects for higher activity levels look brighter for spring and summer, in line with seasonal trends."

The Housing Executive's Head of Research, Joe Frey, said: "New research confirms that the private rented sector is continuing to expand and play an ever bigger role in meeting the accommodation needs of a growing number of potential first time buyers and households on low incomes. There is a growing concern among housing professionals that the changes to the Housing Benefit system currently being introduced on a rolling basis could seriously undermine this role at a time when resources for new social housing are being reduced".

The survey, based on reported sales by 115 firms of estate agents, showed that 35 per cent of properties sold at or below £100,000 compared to 29 per cent in the previous survey, while 68 per cent of properties sold at or below £150,000, highlighting the lower price structure in the market.

With the exception of semi-detached bungalows, which saw an increase of 6.7 per cent in average sale price over the year, all other market sectors saw reduced average prices with apartments seeing the greatest decline of 23.8 per cent. Detached bungalows fell by 16.4 per cent, detached houses by 15.3 per cent, terraced and town houses by 3.4 per cent and semi-detached houses by 2.6 per cent.

Tweet

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.