Report: House prices in north 33% cheaper
The cost of a home trebled in the south between 1996 and 2006, whereas price increases in the north were more moderate, doubling over the same period.
Our economy grew almost twice as fast as the north’s in the same decade.
The Central Statistics Office yesterday published the fourth edition of the North-South Statistical Profile, which compares social and economic statistics for the island of Ireland.
It presents comparable statistics for Northern Ireland and the republic across a range of policy areas including health, education and crime.
House prices here rose from an average of €87,000 in 1996 to more than €300,000 in 2006, while Northern Ireland house prices went up from £65,000 to £154,000 (€195,000) over the same period.
In both jurisdictions, about three-quarters of households owned their home outright or through a mortgage.
The report shows that Northern Ireland’s economy grew by 71% in the decade after the IRA ceasefire in 1996, while unemployment fell to 4.4% from 9.7% between 1996 and 2006.
The republic’s economy grew by 186% in the same period.
Output per person rose by 63% in Northern Ireland and 145% here.
Elsewhere, the report reveals a population of 4,239,848 in the republic in 2006. The estimated population for the north in 2006 was 1,741,619.
In 2006, the birth rate per 1,000 population was 15.2 in the republic and 13.4 in Northern Ireland.
The past 20 years have seen the proportion of babies born to older mothers rise in the north and the republic. About 60% of all births in the latter were to mothers aged 30 and over compared with 50% in Northern Ireland.
In the republic in 2006, three in every five births were to mothers aged 30 and over, compared to three out of every five births to mothers aged under 30 in 1980.
There were more births to mothers aged 40 and older than births to teenage mothers in the republic in 2005 and 2006.
