Northern Ireland is the only region of the UK where house prices are expected to continue pushing higher over the next three months, according to an influential survey of estate agents.
The RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) said a net balance of agents it surveyed are bullish around prices for the last quarter of the year and for the next 12 months, with a continued lack of supply underpinning prices.
However, it did say the rate of growth in house prices appears to be easing in light of soaring inflation and interest rates and noted a slight easing in new buyer enquiries. Activity – the number of transactions - was also muted in September, as were supply levels with new instructions to sell holding steady.
The latter result backs anecdotal evidence suggesting some potential vendors have held off listing their properties for sale due to economic uncertainty, the RICS said.
“Northern Ireland is seeing some easing in enquiries and demand from extremely high levels earlier in the year,” Samuel Dickey, RICS Northern Ireland Residential Property spokesman, said. “However, surveyors are continuing to report anecdotally that in many areas demand is still greater than supply. Whilst the market is clearly in a different place than it was earlier in the year when demand was extremely high, we would expect the lack of supply to continue to be a significant factor in the market for the foreseeable.
“This perhaps explains why surveyors on balance expect price growth over the coming 12 months.”
