Northern Ireland house price rises are predicted to continue, meaning the housing market here remains the strongest performing among UK regions.
According to the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Ulster Bank Residential Market Survey, property prices fell across Great Britain for a third successive month in November.
With 39% more respondents reporting an increase in the value of their home, Northern Ireland defied the trend.
Samuel Dickey, RICS residential property spokesperson, said he believes 2018 is “shaping up to be a good year” for the housing market.
“House prices look to have risen at a healthy rate and activity in various segments of the market has been relatively good, albeit that there are regional variations,” he said.
“Uncertainty in the wider environment doesn’t seem to be having a significant impact on the housing market to date.
“Whether that continues into 2019 remains to be seen.”
According the professional body for estate agents and surveyors, the RICS, experts are significantly more optimistic about sales activity in Northern Ireland.
Surveyors here are more optimistic about prices continuing to rise over the next three months, compared to experts in England, Scotland and Wales.
Head of personal banking at Ulster Bank, Terry Robb, said that high demand has driven the stream of healthy activity during the year.
“Our new paperless mortgage process has played a role in helping generate interest, but demand more broadly in the market remains firm,” he added.
“The level of interest that we are seeing from customers, as well as feedback from surveyors, suggests that the early part of 2019 at least will continue to see good demand.”
