‘Average’ Ballymena house is now priced at £141,753

Ballymena sits 10th cost-wise in the league of 15 areas as set out in the latest University of Ulster Quarterly House Price index produced in partnership with Bank of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

In Antrim/Ballymena the overall average price continued to fall, showing a 17% annual decline to £141,753.

There was considerable variation across property types in the area with semi-detached houses, for instance, down by 16.1% over the year to an average of £123,136.

Compared to the third quarter of 2010, the local market looked more optimistic with a three per cent increase in the average sale price.

At regional level, the picture in the fourth quarter showed prices continued to be rather variable, volatile and generally lower in most areas.

The highest priced location continued to be south Belfast where the average price in the fourth quarter was £232,039. This was followed by east Belfast with an average of £156,233, west Belfast with £146,919 and north Belfast with £100,268.

Northern Ireland-wide, the average house price fell by 7.7% last year but showed signs of stabilising in the final quarter with a weighted increase of 0.1%.

And the House Price Index also shows that after an optimistic start to 2010, prices slipped back in the second half of the year.

The university’s survey of 110 estate agents for the final quarter of the year found that the overall average price of a house was £149,795.

The volume of house sales continued to fall, with a sample of 684 open market transactions in the fourth quarter compared with 795 in the third quarter and 1,009 in the second.

The authors of the report - Professor Alastair Adair, Professor Stanley McGreal and Dr David McIlhatton - said: “The second half of 2010 has been a difficult period for the housing market in Northern Ireland, contrasting with the tentative signs of recovery in the first half of the year.

“It seems that the prospects for the UK economy, local fears of public sector cuts and possible contagion effects from the Irish economy may have dented confidence in the local market and that the inclement weather conditions may have impacted on sales volumes in the final quarter.”

The survey report said that lower prices and reduced sales suggested that the housing market continued to lack any momentum, a sentiment supported by anecdotal evidence from estate agents throughout Northern Ireland. However, a number of agents in the east of Northern Ireland expressed greater confidence in the quarter suggesting a regional variation supported by the quarterly price movement.