Average house in North now worth over €267,000

Average house prices in the North have rocketed past £180,000 (€267,200), with values rising by a third in the last year, it was revealed today.

The astonishing boom in the market has seen property values surge past Scotland, Wales and the north of England.

Less than 10% of houses now sell for under £100,000 (€148,400) as relentless demand continues to fuel the unprecedented surge.

Lisburn, Co Antrim, experienced the most staggering increase, with terraced/townhouses soaring by 65% over 12 months.

Experts involved in the University of Ulster’s latest quarterly house price index, produced with Bank of Ireland and the Housing Executive, said they were in unchartered territory.

Co-author Professor Stanley McGreal said: “The rate of annual increase at over 30% has pushed the local housing market to new dimensions, which could not have been predicted.

“The big questions are whether this is a spike, how long can such rates of increase continue and what are the long-term implications for the housing market.”

Once again investors played a major role as prices rose by 11.9% between July and September and 32.1% on the year, the study showed.

It examined nearly 2,300 transactions involving more than 100 estate agents across all areas.

Bank of Ireland Economist Alan Bridle said: “We are in the throes of a boom of unprecedented proportions.

“Investors are playing a major role in driving demand, with money from the Republic of Ireland particularly influential in border locations.

“While some investors are selling to make gains, there is still a queue of buyers waiting to snap up available stock.

“As a result, first-time buyers are facing an ever-worsening plight and the latest data shows the number of loans to this category each month has dropped sharply in the past year.”

The Housing Executive’s Head of Research, Joe Frey, insisted it was too easy to blame any one group for the plight of the first-time buyer.

He said: “Lenders are criticised for making loans too easily available, developers for hoarding land, the Planning Service for not making sufficient land available for housing or private investors for outbidding first-time buyers.

“Research being undertaken on behalf of the Housing Executive by the Glasgow University and the University of Ulster shows that it is a much more complex picture than many people realise.”

All property types showed substantial increases compared with the third quarter in 2005, but the two most dominant are now terraced/townhouses and semi-detached houses, which together represented 55% of the market in the third quarter.

Agents reported investors and home-buyers competing aggressively in these sectors.

The highest rate of growth was in semi-detached houses, which went up by 37.1% to an average of £172,179 (€255,600).

Terraced/townhouses rose by 35.5% to an average of £142,406 (€211,400).

The apartment market, which has also been targeted for investment, showed growth of 29.1% to an average price in the third quarter of £143,348 (€212,700).

Semi-detached bungalows went up by an average of 32.3% to £161,108 (€239,100), while detached bungalows rose by 26.7% to £231,251 (€343,200).

Detached houses grew by 27.5% to an average of £273,970 (€406,600).

All locations underwent substantial increases, with the average price in Belfast reaching £172,209 (€255,600), up 29%.

The apartment market, with prices up 42% over the year, led the field, with detached bungalows at the bottom of the league with an increase of 13.6%.

The highest-priced city location was still south Belfast, followed by east Belfast, west Belfast and north Belfast.

In Lisburn the overall rate of growth was a thumping 42.8% over the year, with the average house there now costing £226,984 (€336,800), making it the highest-priced area of the North.

In north Down, the average price of £193,197 (€286,700) represents an increase of almost 22.3%, while in east Antrim the new average of £140,882 (€209,000) reflected a growth of 28.9%.

In Antrim the overall average house price rose by 21.5% to £171,248 (€254,100), while in Coleraine, Limavady and the north coast, the 17.8% rise took prices just over the £200,000 (€296,800) mark for the first time.

Derry and Strabane witnessed an annual rise of 23.2%, bringing the average house price to £147,053 (€218,300).

The mid-Ulster market average price was £181,087 (€268,800), up 26.3% over a year, while in Fermanagh and south Tyrone the average sale price exceeded £200,000 (€296,800), up 25.7% across the year.

In Armagh the annual increase was a huge 49%, taking the overall average price to £176,145 (€261,500). Mid and south Down markets performed strongly too, increasing the average home price over the year to £207,506 (€308,000), reflecting an uprecedented annual increase of 45%.