By Conor Lambe, Chief Economist at Danske Bank
In November, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and Land & Property Services published the Northern Ireland House Price Index for the third quarter of 2021.
This data showed that over the twelve month period from 2020 Q3 to 2021 Q3, house prices in Northern Ireland increased by 10.7%, which was higher than the 9.7% annual rate of growth in 2021 Q2. The rate of annual house price growth in quarter three was the highest observed in Northern Ireland since 2007.
With regards to the change over the quarter, so relative to 2021 Q2, the standardised house price increased by 3.0% to just over £159k. The data also showed that house prices in Northern Ireland in 2021 Q3 were around 13.5% higher than in 2019 Q4, before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Delving deeper into the figures showed that house prices increased in all regions of Northern Ireland, with the highest rates of annual growth observed in Mid Ulster and in Derry City & Strabane.
There was strong growth experienced both over the quarter and over the year for detached, semi-detached and terrace properties. However, while the price of apartments increased by 3.4% between 2020 Q3 and 2021 Q3, it fell by 1.5% when compared with the second quarter of 2021.
The annual growth in the price of existing resold properties (11.9%) was also just more than double the growth in prices for new properties (5.8%).
With regards to the wider UK housing market in 2021 Q3, the fastest rate of annual house price growth was observed in Scotland, while London experienced the slowest pace of growth. The 10.7% annual increase in Northern Ireland was above the 9.8% expansion in house prices across the UK as a whole.
The next release of house price data, for the fourth quarter of 2021, is scheduled for February 2022.
