Northern Ireland house prices moderate increase across 2018
The price of new build houses has continued to rise across 2018, to a point which is now 19.7 per cent higher than that of Q1 2015. That is according to recent statistics released by Land and Property Services at the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.
The overall index for Northern Ireland house prices demonstrated a decrease of one per cent between the first and second quarter of 2018. This is held in contrast to the period between Q2 2017 and Q2 2018 which showed a HPI increase of 4.4 per cent. Currently, in the second quarter of 2018, the Northern Ireland HPI currently stands at 119.7, making it 18.7 per cent higher than 13 years previously in the first quarter of 2005. In comparison with the same quarter last year, housing has increased by a moderate 4.4 per cent.
The publication analyses the Northern Ireland domestic property market using residential sales figures recorded by HM Revenue & Customs and includes all house sales, regardless of their purchase method. The residential property market’s overall performance has been measured using the Northern Ireland House Price Index (Northern Ireland HPI) which uses a modelling approach to produce a standardised property price.
Included in the Northern Ireland HPI is a categorial differentiation between various types of property, including detached, semi-detached and terraced properties. An examination of figures shows that the index for terrace and apartment properties increased in Q2 2018 in comparison to the previous quarter, whilst the index for detached and semi-detached properties saw a general decrease. Detached properties increased in price by 3.8 per cent in comparison with last year, whereas semi-detached properties increased by 4.4 per cent. Terrace and apartment properties also saw an increase of 5.6 per cent and 2.7 respectively on last year.
Of all the property categories listed in the Northern Ireland HPI, apartments saw the biggest quarterly increase (1.6 per cent) while terraced properties increased by 0.3 per cent. Detached houses decreased by 3.7 per cent while semi-detached houses decreased by 0.1 per cent over the quarter.
The average price of new build houses sold in the second quarter of this year increased by less than 0.1 per cent in comparison to the previous quarter, making it 24.6 per cent higher than Q1 2015 and 30.1 per cent higher than Q1 2005. 5,308 residential property sales were recorded during Q2 2018, with sales in the first quarter increasing by 696 due to late returns.
Of the 11 district council areas in Northern Ireland, three demonstrated an increase over the quarter (Causeway Coast and Glens, Derry City and Strabane and Fermanagh and Omagh). These figures will, however, be revised in the next publication due to late sales notified to HMRC and new properties being entered into the NI Valuation List.
Despite the moderate increase in property prices across Northern Ireland, industry leaders and academics have pointed out that they are substantially lower than in 2008, which saw inflation at an all-time high following the economic recession.
