NI housing market: Prices in NI fall for second time

The official House Price Index saw a 1.8% decline compared to the final quarter of 2022 giving an average price of £172,000

House prices in Northern Ireland saw their second consecutive quarterly fall in the first quarter of 2023.

The official House Price Index saw a 1.8% decline compared to the final quarter of 2022 giving an average price of £172,000.

However, prices were still 5% higher when compared with the first quarter of 2022.

A weakening housing market had been expected following the continued rise in interest rates.

Data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) had earlier shown a significant drop in the number of houses being sold in NI since the end of last year.

The biggest quarterly fall was in the Ards and North Down council district with prices down by almost 5%.

Only Causeway Coast and Glens saw a price increase, up by 0.7%.

House prices in Northern Ireland rose steadily throughout the pandemic and its aftermath and are still more than 20% higher than at the start of 2020.

The market was exceptionally busy in 2021 with more than 30,000 transactions but returned to a more normal level in 2022 with about 25,000 transactions.

On Wednesday, the UK inflation rate fell from 10.1% in March to 8.7%.