Buyer demand in NI’s housing market remains strong despite some budget uncertainty.
Buyer demand in Northern Ireland’s housing market has remained strong during the Autumn despite some uncertainty relating to the upcoming UK Budget.
October saw sales enquiries 21.7% higher than in the same month of 2024, with sales volumes 3% above the long-term average. Average prices reached £237,918, which is 6.5% higher than in October 2024, representing an increase of over 40% since the start of 2020.
Despite some uncertainty relating to the UK Budget, the expectation is that on balance, there will be further interest rate cuts in the coming months, which would improve affordability alongside recent strength in local earnings and provide further momentum to an already resilient sales market
In the rental market, whilst headline rents continued to increase, the rate of growth has been moderating, and now sits at 5.8% on a year-on-year basis with the average rent now £992. Rental enquiries were lower than in October 2024 (-4.1%) representing a slowdown from extremely high levels.
