HOUSE prices in Northern Ireland increased the first three months of 2023, according to a new index from Nationwide Building Society.
The index put the average price of a house in the north at £173,393 in the first quarter of 2023.
That was 1.3 per cent higher than the first quarter of 2022 and 5.5 per cent up on the final three months of 2022.
Nationwide is one of a number of unofficial indices which track the housing market here.
The latest official government endorsed house price index for Northern Ireland indicated house prices here fell in the final three months of 2022, to an average of £175,234.
That was 0.5 per cent down on the third quarter, but still 10 per cent higher than 12 months earlier.
The most recent data from HMRC on residential property transactions in the north showed that just 1,740 homes changed hands here during February.
That was 510 fewer sales compared to the same month in 2022, a drop of 22.5 per cent.
It was also the weakest February for the north’s housing market since 2016.
The latest data from Nationwide suggests the lack of available housing stock in the market could have pushed prices back up in the first quarter of 2023, albeit at a much slower pace than recent reports.
“Northern Ireland saw a noticeable slowing in annual house price growth, although prices were still up 1.3 per cent year-on-year,” said the building society.
The 1.3 per cent year-on-year growth was at odds with the UK as a whole, where Nationwide recorded a 3.1 per cent fall.
The building society said it was largest annual decline recorded by its index since July 2009.
