Jordan Buchanan, Chief Operating Officer at PropertyPal commented on the housing market:
Market conditions have seen a gradual slowdown in the rate of price growth and transaction activity in the past three months, albeit, both remain at broadly stable levels. There were approximately 6,200 properties ‘sale agreed’, equivalent to a 5%-10% reduction on normal levels.
£206,500
£143,200 Houses
A sharp increase in borrowing costs has continued to weaken affordability for mortgage buyers. However, last week saw the first sign of inflationary pressures easing as both headline and underlying core inflation fell at a faster rate than forecasters’ expectations. This will be a relief to the Bank of England policy makers and may influence their interest rate setting choices next month. Markets still expect further rate rises, but the path of inflation is critical to this. Indeed, the inflation data is closely watched by markets and last week’s positive sign has already resulted in downward movement in swap rates, the financing mechanism used to underpin mortgage pricing. This should feed through into mortgage rates stabilising, if not falling in the near term.
On pricing, a softening inflationary environment should naturally lead to price growth slowing. But moreso, weak consumer confidence and affordability pressures should continue to push prices down. This remains a bigger factor in Southern England markets and is reflected in several national house price publications which show N.Ireland continuing to see stable prices and leading UK regional performance. On PropertyPal’s index, resale properties prices grew by 1.4% in the previous 3 month period and by 7.6% in the last year. New Homes experienced slower activity in both transactions and prices, with average values reducing by 0.4% over the quarter but rising by 4.8% over the year.
The outlook still remains highly uncertain for the market and volatility is expected with each major economic data release. House prices have proved more resilient than perhaps expected given the scale of interest rate rises but transaction activity has fallen and is expected to continue. Househunters remain engaged with strong enquiry levels being sent to estate agents for appropriately valued properties and on average are achieving ‘sale agreed’ status over 2 weeks faster than pre-covid levels.
House prices by number of bedrooms
Apartments Houses
House prices across Northern Ireland
Derry City & Strabane Causeway Coast & Glens
N.Ireland prices: Q2 2023
New Homes
£234,000
Houses
£237,000
Apartments
£211,700
Sale agreed properties
No. of ‘sale agreed’ properties by quarter, N.Ireland, 2016-2023
Market confidence returning with strong sales in March
Top selling areas across Northern Ireland
Average days on market to reach ‘sale agreed’, N. Ireland, 2016-2023
Apartments Houses
Note:
Average days on market for houses to reach ‘sale agreed’
Average days on market for apartments to reach ‘sale agreed’
New listings on PropertyPal
Location of advertised sales properties
newly listed properties available to purchase in Q2 2023
5,553 houses 560 apartments
New inventory % change vs Q2 2022 vs Q2 2019 6,113
Total inventory % change vs Q2 2022 vs Q2 2019
Market demand remains strong but supply a persistent challenge
Market Supply: down 13% on Q1 2022 levels
Number of new listings of properties for sale on PropertyPal by calendar month; 2015-2022
Market Demand: down 19% on 2022 levels but 51% higher than 2019 levels
PropertyPal Sales Market Demand Index: Down 7% Year over Year
Note: Market demand based on enquiries to estate agents for property viewings and homebuyer services. Jan 2020 = 100 compared every monthly time period across different years relative to that period. When a figure highlights 120, this implies a 20% increase relative to Jan 2020 and equally a respective figure of 80, implies a 20% decrease.
Proportion
Listings experiencing price drops similar to historic norms
Proportion of properties listed for sale with asking price reductions during quarter, N.Ireland, 2016-2023
N.Ireland rents: Q2 2023
Rents by houses and apartments
Jordan Buchanan, Chief Operating Officer at PropertyPal commented on the rental market:
N.Ireland rental prices have increased to record highs with growth highlighted across all property types and locations. The average rent is now £791 per month, an increase of 9.7% in the last year. The surge in rents isn’t unique to N.Ireland and is being experienced across the world driven by a demand spike, stronger wage growth, and rising interest rates pushing landlord mortgage costs up. Supply issues continue to be a significant constraining factor with total stock levels down over 50% compared to pre-covid levels. Against this backdrop, higher tenant demand has equated to an average of 71 enquiries per rental property listed in PropertyPal.
Rents by number of bedrooms
Houses
Apartments
Rents across Northern Ireland
Derry
& Strabane Causeway Coast & Glens
Apartments Houses
Average days on market to reach ‘let agreed’, N. Ireland, 2016-2023 Note: Based
Average days on market for houses to reach ‘let agreed’
Average days on market for apartments to reach ‘let agreed’ 26
New listings on PropertyPal
Location of advertised rental properties
newly listed properties available to rent in Q2 2023 3,017
1,898 houses
1,119 apartments
inventory % change vs Q2 2022 vs Q2 2019
Rental market - Supply demand imbalance persists
Number of new listings of properties for rent on PropertyPal by calendar month; 2015-2022
Market Supply: down 10% on Q2 2022 levels
PropertyPal Rental Market Demand Index: Up 22% Year over Year
Market Demand: up 5% on 2022 levels and multi-year high
Note: Market demand based on enquiries to estate agents for property viewings and homebuyer services. Jan 2020 = 100 compared every monthly time period across different years relative to that period. When a figure highlights 120, this implies a 20% increase relative to Jan 2020 and equally a respective figure of 80, implies a 20% decrease.
