THE average price of a new build house in Northern Ireland increased by £8,500 in just three months, according to the latest government data.
The Northern Ireland House Price Index put the average price of a house at £164,590 in the first quarter of 2022 - £15,506 more (10.4 per cent) than the same quarter in 2021.
Prices jumped by 3.4 per cent between the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021 and the first three months of 2022.
Rising costs of raw materials and a slowdown in the construction industry appeared to drive the average price of a new build to £193,639 in Q1 2022 – 4.6 per cent (£8,561) more than the final quarter of 2021.
Homebuyers faced paying on average £18,000 more for a new build in early 2022 than they did at the start of 2021.
Official data has pointed to a slowdown in the building sector, with the final quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 registering the lowest number of new dwellings completed in five years.
The house price index also confirmed 2021 was the second busiest on record for the north’s property market.
The 30,350 residential property sales recorded last year was higher than 2007 and only surpassed by the 41,078 homes sold in 2006.
The demand prompted a sharp increase in the price of apartments in the north, with the average price jumping by almost £7,000 (5.9 per cent) between the end of 2021 and the start of 2022 – to £124,522.
On Monday, the Republic’s Central Statistics Office announced house prices across the border rose by 15.2 per cent in the 12 months to March 2022.
It said the median price paid for a house in the Republic in that period was €285,000 (£242,582), with new builds averaging €335,000 (£285,158).
According to the Northern Ireland House Price Index, the cheapest district to buy a home in the north in early 2022 was Derry City and Strabane (£145,741), just below Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (£146,577).
Lisburn and Castlereagh (£189,968) and Ards and North Down (£187,947) retained their place at the top end of the price table.
A 14.8 per cent increase in house prices in Causeway Coast and Glens to £183,110, left it third most expensive on average.
It was one of six districts which recorded double digit price growth last year.
ABC (14 per cent); Newry, Mourne & Down (13.5 per cent) and Fermanagh & Omagh (13 per cent) all saw significant jumps in prices in the past 12 months.
