Price Index

'Record-breaking' house price growth for Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland broke house price growth records in the first quarter of 2007 with the fastest annual UK rises since at least 1973.

Nationwide's quarterly house price index revealed that the value of a property in Northern Ireland has increased by 57.6 per cent in the last year - the highest figure since the firm began collecting data.

The province saw house price rises of 14.6 per cent in the first quarter of this year, making it the leader in terms of growth, followed by London with rises of 4.4 per cent during the quarter.

It means that the annual house price in Northern Ireland reached £203,815 at the end of the first quarter of the year, however London remains the most expensive region, with a typical property price of £280,995.

House prices rose across the UK between January and March 2007, with the exception of the north of England, where the value of a home saw a slight fall of 0.4 per cent.

"Prices increased in every part of the UK in the last 12 months, but the rate at which they rose was quite different across the country," commented Nationwide chief economist Fionnuala Earley.

Figures from Paragon show that property rents rose faster than house prices in February, bringing average rental yields up to 6.1 per cent, which should be good news for buy-to-let landlords.

Landlord Mortgages comments “We have certainly seen a marked increase in rental yields and are not surprised to learn that rental yields have outperformed property prices this last quarter.”

LettingAgent.com comments “Rental yields across the whole of the UK have increased significantly over the last few months. This increase seems to be the direct result of less property coming onto the rental market. Rental income is likely to rise further over the rest of 2007.”



© See Terms and Conditions