House prices fall in North

Average house prices in the North have dropped, experts said today.

More than half of the North's estate agents taking part in the survey reported a downturn in values, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) study added.

Poor summer weather and lower expectations when setting asking prices may be to blame for lower rates of house price inflation, RICS Northern Ireland residential property spokesman Tom McClelland said.

“The drop will be welcome news to first time buyers for whom a more realistic price range seems to be coming back into view,” he added. “This plus the strong state of the economy should soften any further dramatic drop.”

While 21% of estate agents contributing to the survey said prices remained the same during August compared to July, 24% reported a drop of up to 2%, almost 30% returned falls of up to 8% and some noted even more dramatic decreases.