Business

House prices in Northern Ireland still higher than last June - Halifax

Halifax's house price index put the average price of a home in the north at £186,866 last month, 0.2 per cent higher than June 2022.

Analysis by Halifax found that the average house price in the north last month was higher than a year ago.
Analysis by Halifax found that the average house price in the north last month was higher than a year ago.
By Ryan McAleer

NEW analysis from Halifax has concluded house prices in Northern Ireland are still higher than they were a year ago.

The lender’s latest market research found prices across the UK fell at the fastest annual rate seen in 12 years in June.

Halifax said the annual fall of 2.6 per cent, equating to around £7,500 being wiped off the average house price in cash terms, was the biggest since 2011.

But, it said Northern Ireland was among the exceptions, with the average house price in June estimated at £186,866, 0.2 per cent higher than June 2022.

Last week, Nationwide’s house price index found the north of Ireland was the only region in the UK where house prices are higher than they were a year ago.

The building society put the average house price in the north at £182,740 in the second quarter of 2023.

That was 0.7 per cent higher than the same quarter in 2022.

Read more:

  • Nationwide: Northern Ireland only region in UK where house prices are higher than a year ago
  • House prices in Northern Ireland fall for a second quarter running says index
  • NI housing market 'cooling off' as home-buying falls by almost a third
  • 'Exceptional demand' amid 'restricted supply' drives house rent in Northern Ireland up by 10 per cent in a year'

Both Nationwide and Halifax use different methodology from the official government endorsed house price index for the north, which is produced by Land & Property Services (LPS) and the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (Nisra).

The latest quarterly LPS index, published in May, concluded Northern Ireland house prices fell in both the final quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023.

It left the average price of a residential property here at £172,005 in the first quarter of 2023.

The official housing market data for the second quarter of 2023 won't be published until the middle of August.

But new figures published by HMRC in recent days showed some signs the housing market in Northern Ireland could be slowing down.

HMRC recorded 1,840 residential property transactions 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.