The North of Ireland has had stronger annual house price growth than any region within the UK at 13.5%, according to Nationwide Building Society

Average house prices in Northern Ireland have soared by 13.5% over the last year to hit just under £206,000, according to a report.

Nationwide Building Society said there was quarterly average house price growth in Northern Ireland of 7.1% between the last three months of 2024 and first quarter of 2025.

House price growth in Northern Ireland has far outpaced UK average growth of 3.9% over the last year – however, house prices in NI are around 27% below the UK average. The lender said that growth UK-wide stalled on a month-on-month basis in March, and the market is likely to be “a little soft” now that stamp duty discounts have become less generous.

“Nil rate” stamp duty bands have shrunk from Tuesday, meaning increased costs for some home buyers. Stamp duty applies in England and Northern Ireland. Nationwide Building Society recorded a 0.0% month-on-month average UK house price change in March, following a 0.4% monthly increase in February.

It said the annual rate of UK house price growth remained stable in March at 3.9%, a rate which was unchanged from February.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “These price trends are unsurprising, given the end of the stamp duty holiday at the end of March.” He added: “Indeed, the market is likely to remain a little soft in the coming months since activity will have been brought forward to avoid the additional tax obligations – a pattern typically observed in the wake of the end of stamp duty holidays.

“Nevertheless, activity is likely to pick up steadily as the summer progresses, despite wider economic uncertainties in the global economy, since underlying conditions for potential home buyers in the UK remain supportive.

“The unemployment rate is low, earnings are rising at a healthy pace in real terms (after accounting for inflation), household balance sheets are strong and borrowing costs are likely to moderate a little if (the Bank of England base rate) is lowered further in the coming quarters as we and most other analysts expect.”

Nationwide said that within England, a north-south divide was seen in the first quarter of 2025, with prices in northern England (comprising the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, the East Midlands and West Midlands) up 4.9% annually, outperforming southern England.

Southern England (the South West, Outer South East, Outer Metropolitan, London and East Anglia) saw a more modest 2.5% annual rise.

Northern Ireland was the strongest performer in the first quarter of this year.

Alice Haine, personal finance analyst at Bestinvest by Evelyn Partners, said of Tuesday’s stamp duty changes: “This will affect first-time buyers the hardest, who may have to find thousands of pounds, in addition to their deposit, to pay their property taxes if the home they want to purchase costs more than £300,000.

“Existing homeowners looking to upsize or downsize will also be liable for a bigger tax bill, something that already appears to be having a dampening effect on the market. Mortgage approvals started to fall in January, dipping again in February to the lowest number since August last year, as the window to secure lower transaction costs started to narrow.”

Here are average house prices in the first quarter of 2025, followed by the annual change, according to Nationwide Building Society:

Northern Ireland, £205,796, 13.5%

North West, £221,896, 5.9%

West Midlands, £249,629, 5.8%

Yorkshire and the Humber, £211,496, 5.2%

North East, £165,984, 4.7%

Scotland, £186,131, 3.9%

Wales, £209,839, 3.6%

Article sourced from https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/northern-ireland/northern-ireland-house-prices-show-strongest-growth-across-uk-with-135-increase/a1852845060.html

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