NI housing market: Number of sales fall by almost one fifth

House sales in Northern Ireland were down by 19% in the first quarter of 2023, official figures suggest.

The data from HMRC showed there were 5,400 housing transactions in the first three months of the year compared to 6,670 in the same period of 2022.

It also suggested it was the market's slowest start to the year since 2015 when there were 5,010 quarterly sales,

Housing markets across the UK have cooled as rising interest rates have made mortgages more expensive.

Data from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) suggested house prices in Northern Ireland saw their first quarterly fall in more than three years in the final quarter of 2022.

The official House Price Index saw a 0.5% decline compared to the third quarter.

The price data for the first quarter of 2023 is due to be published at the end of May.

House prices in Northern Ireland rose steadily throughout the pandemic and its aftermath and are now about 25% higher than at the start of 2020.

That means the average house price is now back to roughly what it was in the middle of 2006, but is still well below the peak price of £225,000 at the height of the bubble in 2007.

The market was exceptionally busy in 2021 - with more than 30,000 transactions - but returned to a more normal level in 2022 with about 25,000 transactions.

In March, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which advises the government on the health of the economy, predicted that UK house prices will drop by 10% over the next two years.