Average house costs £130,192 in Ballymena and Antrim

The UU’s latest Quarterly House Price Index report, which examines the performance of Northern Ireland’s residential property market over October, November and December 2015, highlights the overall price of £130,192 builds on the stronger performance in the third quarter, with the price up by 15.1% compared the final quarter of 2014.

However, performance is highly variable according to property type with semi-detached houses at £113,164 and detached houses at £176,684, both increasing in price over the year.

In contrast terrace/townhouses have dropped back from their strong third quarter performance leaving the average house price at £72,784.

Apartments typically take a small proportion of the market, however, this quarter sees apartments record an unusually high average price of £113,954 mainly due to the newly constructed properties in this sector.

The University’s report confirms that Northern Ireland’s overall average house price is up nine per cent from the same time last year indicating that strong market conditions are prevailing.

It is based on a sample of 1,951 house sales in the final quarter of 2015 reveals, an overall average price of £154,685.

Over the quarter 62 per cent of houses were sold at or below £150,000, which the University report suggests is an indication of the affordable market that still exists in NI.