According to a new report, house prices in Belfast are forecast to increase by over 4% this year.
Growth across major cities in the UK is predicted to be stronger this year than first thought, according to one index.
Property analysts, Hometrack, believe values across 20 of the largest cities in the UK are set to rise by 6% to 7% throughout 2017, higher than the earlier prediction of 4% made at the end of 2016.
It is believe that the average house price in Belfast will rise to £130,600, an increase of 4.3%
A continuation of strong house price growth in lively regional cities such as Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham, regardless of the uncertainty over Brexit, is behind the raised expectations.
Birmingham is recorded as the fastest-growing major city for house prices with a 7.8% annual rise. However, the annual house price growth in London has reduced to 2.6%, its lowest percentage in over five years.
Hometrack predicts this rise to continue throughout 2017 due to the prices rising off a lower base.
The average property cost in Birmingham rests at £154,900, less than a third of costs in London at £492,700
Other cities outside of Southern England, such as Manchester and Leeds, remain consistent with their strong house price growth.
Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge, like London, have witnessed a noticeable slowdown in the rate of house cost growth over the past year.
A decrease in unemployment and record low mortgage rates are helping to support price growth, Hometrack asses. Research and Insight Director at Hometrack, Richard Donnell, said: “Despite a material slowdown in the rate of house price growth in South Eastern England, the headline rate of city house price inflation is holding up, despite the squeeze on real incomes and uncertainty around Brexit.”
He added that in London, the Brexit vote seems to have had a larger impression on buyer sentiment, and when coupled with affordability issues, it has resulted in a slowdown of the annual growth rate over the last year.
“However, although house price inflation has fallen sharply in the capital it is starting to flatten out and the rate of growth is likely to avoid year-on-year price falls in the coming months.”
Meanwhile, according to new research, Northern Ireland’s housing market is the strongest in the UK.
The latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Ulster Bank residential market survey stated indicators for enquiries, prices, and expectations had all been positive in June.
Annual rate of increase in Birmingham highlights this is the fastest-growing city for house prices in the UK.
