THE north's housing market ended last year "almost undeterred from the pandemic" and enters 2021 "on positive foundations", according to PropertyPal's barometer of the region's residential housing sector from October to December.
It shows there were 7,350 properties ‘sale agreed’ over the quarter - that's 27 per cent more than during the same period in 2019, with sales of four and five-plus bedroom properties rising by more than 40 per cent.
Belfast remains the most popular place to purchase, recording over 1,500 sales, followed by Ards & North Down (990) and Lisburn and Castlereagh (810). The average advertised property is now £172,000.
The report shows that annual house price growth in Northern Ireland has accelerated to 3.7 per cent, with prices increasing by 1.9 per cent during the previous three months after ‘lockdown.’
There were close to 6,000 properties added to the market during the fourth quarter, which is 17 per cent more than the same period in 2019 as supply continues to accelerate after the temporary market closure during last spring.
The rental market remained buoyant, with typical rents accelerating by 1.5 per cent over the previous three months and an annual rate of 4.7 per cent.
The average rent in Northern Ireland is £667 a month, of which houses are £654 and apartments £686.
There were approximately 3,400 new rental properties listed in quarter four - some 3 per cent fewer than the same period in 2019.
PropertyPal chief economist Jordan Buchanan said: “The opening quarter of 2021 is likely to show continued buoyancy as a backlog of sales complete and new buyers rush to beat the stamp duty tax break by the end of March.
“But the outlook for later this year remains more precarious and is dependent on a range of factors, not least the success and speed of the vaccine programme and the extent to which the wider economy can experience an uninterrupted recovery.
“Encouragingly, several lenders have re-introduced mortgage products for customers with a 10 per cent deposit, which will act as a stimulus for the first-time buyer segment of the market.”
On the rental market he added: “Ongoing economic and political uncertainty has stimulated exceptionally strong demand levels, leading to rising rents across both houses and apartments.
“However, the supply of rental properties coming to the market has largely recovered to 2019 levels and leading indicators show signs of cooling demand levels.
“Rising rents against a backdrop of falling incomes has created affordability pressures for households, and the labour market profile suggests renters are more vulnerable to job losses compared to home-owners. This may lead to falling rents later in the year.”
