PROPERTY professionals in the north have reported a fall in the supply and demand for housing in June.
The latest monthly survey by Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Ulster Bank, said house prices in Northern Ireland are expected to be broadly flat over the next three months as a result.
A significant number of those surveyed reported house prices continuing to rise in the north in the past three months.
Recent research by Nationwide suggested Northern Ireland was the only region in the UK where house prices were higher in June 2023, than they were in June 2022.
Halifax's latest house price index also concluded house prices here are still higher than they were a year ago.
But, the RICS survey suggests the property industry expect prices to remain flat over the coming quarter.
The report pointed to a fall in both new buyers enquiries and agreed sales.
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The latest HMRC data recorded 1,840 residential property transactions in the north during May 2023.
While that was well up on the 1,550 sales registered in April, it was around 600 fewer than in May 2019.
Outside May 2020, when the housing market was in lockdown, it was the weakest May for the north’s housing market since 2016.
It comes as the Bank of England said around one million households in the UK tied to a fixed-rate mortgage will have seen their monthly repayments soar by about £500 by the end of 2026.
RICS’ spokesman Samuel Dickey said the lower level of new buyer enquires and new sales in June was not surprising given the hike in interest rates and changes in lenders' mortgage offerings.
Ulster Bank’s head of personal banking, Terry Robb, said: “For the local housing market, the first half of 2023 was overall a story of easing demand, after a very busy few years.
“Higher interest rates are inevitably impacting somewhat on demand. However, the lack of supply continues to be seen as a key factor in supporting prices.”
