NI house prices up more than 6% in a year

House prices in Northern Ireland rose 6.2% in the year up to the end of September, according to official figures.

The average price for a house in Northern Ireland is £190,553, but prices vary depending on where you live.

The Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon council area has the lowest average house price at £169,407.

Lisburn and Castlereagh council area has the highest average price at £222,496.

Prices rose across all council areas in the 12 months to the end of September.

The Mid Ulster council area reported the lowest increase of 4%, while the highest increase was 8.6% in Ards and North Down.

Prices also increased across all property types in the year to the end of September, with terraced properties reporting the biggest increase in price, up 7.4%.

Apartments reported the smallest increase with prices up 2.4%.

A total of 5,973 residential properties were sold between July and September.

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) said this number will be revised upwards due to late sales being notified to His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

It comes as property website PropertyPal suggests interest in Northern Ireland’s housing market last month was up 16% on the previous year.

It says this is the busiest October since 2019.

But PropertyPal chief executive Jordan Buchanan said the path of interest rates remained a key source of uncertainty for the market in the coming year.

“While the Bank of England recently reduced the base rate, this was already largely reflected in lenders’ mortgage rates," he said.

“Since the UK Budget, mortgage rates have edged upward, signalling expectations that the path of interest rates for 2025 could be slightly higher than previously anticipated."