In an unforeseen turn of events, house prices in Northern Ireland experienced a rise during the second quarter of 2023. The official House Price Index indicated a surprising 1.4% upswing in comparison to the preceding quarter, culminating in an average price just below £174,000.
These elevated prices marked a 2.7% increment when juxtaposed with the same period in the preceding year. This surprising surge in prices arrives against the backdrop of a housing market that had been undergoing a weakening trend due to the escalation of interest rates, contributing to more expensive mortgage payments.
It’s noteworthy that Northern Ireland had witnessed a decline in prices for two consecutive quarters, spanning the close of 2022 and the start of 2023.
Official statistical data also highlights a 20% decrease in house sales within Northern Ireland during the initial half of 2023. The figures released by HMRC revealed 11,030 housing transactions in the first six months of the current year, compared to 13,810 during the corresponding period in 2022. This trajectory is consistent with the slowest start to a year since 2015, barring the disruption in 2020 caused by the pandemic.
Among the local council districts, three witnessed price contractions between the first and second quarters: Mid and East Antrim (-0.2%), Belfast (-0.5%), and Armagh, Banbridge, and Craigavon (-1.5%). Conversely, all other council districts either maintained stable prices or observed increases, with Derry City and Strabane leading with an impressive quarterly surge of 8.4%.
Among these fluctuations, the lowest average price hovered just above £152,000 in Armagh, Banbridge, and Craigavon, while the highest average price was noted in Lisburn and Castlereagh, exceeding £203,000.
Earlier this year, the Office for National Statistics undertook a comparison between average household disposable incomes in Northern Ireland and average house prices in 2022. The results indicated that in Northern Ireland, the average cost of a house was 5.1 times the average annual income. By contrast, the ratio stood at 5.3 in Scotland, 6.4 in Wales, and 8.4 in England. Notably, Northern Ireland’s housing market, which had once been the least affordable among regional markets during the peak of its housing bubble in 2008, has generally been the most affordable since 2012.
