Nationwide: N Ireland house prices start to slow
Tuesday, 10 July 2007 12:00 AM
House prices in Northern Ireland have finally started to slow following record annual growth of 57.6 per cent for the first quarter of the year.
The Nationwide regional house price index reveals annual house price growth in the province dropped to 54 per cent for the second quarter of 2006 to 2007.
The building society notes prices in some parts of Northern Ireland are level with those in the capital.
The research finds London remains the most expensive place to buy a home in the country, at £292,409. This is more than double the average price of a home in the north (£134,523), the cheapest part of country.
The lowest annual house price inflation is in the north-west, where quarterly average prices have risen 5.8 per cent in year. This is around half the national average of 10.2 per cent.
The average UK house price is £181,810, Nationwide finds.
"Prices increased by at least five per cent in every region of the UK over the past 12 months, with five out of 13 regions recording double-digit growth. Each region also saw prices rise from the previous quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis," commented Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide chief economist.
She added: "The speed of house price growth in Northern Ireland remains astonishing and well above that of other UK regions, although it looks like the market there may have peaked in the first quarter of the year . . . Recent growth rates appear unsustainable, and it would be healthy for the market to see some cooling.
"Average earnings in Northern Ireland are still lower than the UK average, suggesting that affordability is deteriorating fairly rapidly and that the market here could be more vulnerable than in other regions."
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