Propertynews and PropertyPal to merge

PropertyPal and Propertynews, Northern Ireland’s two main house sales websites, are to merge.

The two brands will continue to operate separately under joint ownership.

Propertynews was originally a property magazine which went online in 2000 while PropertyPal was launched in 2007.

The merger will see Propertynews’ owner, GCD Technologies, become a shareholder in PropertyPal Ltd.

PropertyPal is the largest property website in Northern Ireland for sales and rentals

Its Managing Director, Andrew Gough, will join PropertyPal’s Board of Directors while PropertyPal’s chief executive, Jordan Buchanan will lead the merged company.

He said: "By combining our resources and expertise, we will deliver more efficient, cost-effective, and user-friendly platforms.

"We look forward to working closely with our agents and stakeholders during this exciting transition and beyond."

Earlier this year some estate agents launched a boycott of PropertyPal after it announced a new system for charging for listings.

They later returned to the platform after getting assurances that the company would be more transparent about any planned changes.

New challenger

Meanwhile, a challenger firm, HomesNI, is due to officially launch next month.

It has been founded by Stephen Cousins, a businessman who runs the a web design firm, BlueCubes.

He said: "We’ve been working with Estate Agents for over 17 years, delivering bespoke website design and online services.

"BlueCubes already works closely with over 60 Estate Agency Groups in Northern Ireland and we’ve been listening to their issues and their desire for something new and fresh."

House prices in Northern Ireland rise

Official data released last week showed that house prices in Northern Ireland rose by 3.6% in the second quarter of 2024, the fastest quarterly growth in almost two years.

Rising interest rates had been expected to cool Northern Ireland house prices as higher rates make mortgages more expensive.

However prices have risen more than 15% since the Bank of England began increasing rates at the end of 2021.

The major impact on the market appears to have been to reduce the number of transactions.

Just over 21,500 homes were sold in 2023, which aside from the pandemic year of 2020, was the lowest number since 2014.

Provisional data for the first half of 2024 suggest the number of sales were similar to the same period in 2023.