THE average house price in Northern Ireland has increased by 4.4 per cent in the year to July and now stands at £129,000, according to official figures.
In the UK as a whole, the average house price was £226,000 in July, which was £11,000 higher than in July 2016, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Overall property values were up by 5.1 per cent in the year to July and the annual growth rate has remained broadly around 5 per cent during 2017, the report said. House prices were also up by 1.1 per cent month-on-month in July.
The main contribution to the increase in UK house prices came from England, where house prices increased by 5.4 per cent over the year to July, reaching £243,000 on average.
Wales saw house prices increase by 3.1 per cent to stand at £151,000 typically while in Scotland the average price rose by 4.8 per cent over the year to reach £149,000.
The ONS report cautioned that low numbers of house sales in some areas can cause volatility in the figures.
Jeremy Leaf, a former residential chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said: "It is the shortage of supply, historically low mortgage rates and relatively low unemployment which are underpinning prices, rather than strong buyer demand."
Thomas Fisher, an economist at PwC, said: "Factoring in continued pressure on household incomes in the second half of the year, we anticipate a likely weakening in UK house price inflation to around 4 per cent on average for 2017."
