Northern Ireland is the place in the UK where house prices are rising fastest, with the value of properties surging by 4.1 percent in quarter two of 2024, according to the Nationwide House Price Index.
The index also shows that house prices across the UK have risen by 1.5 percent compared to last year and the last month alone has seen a rise of £1,815 on average.
The worst performing region of the UK was East Anglia, where house prices have plummeted 1.8 percent when compared with the same time last year.
Robert Gardner, Chief Economist at Nationwide, said: “UK house prices edged up by 0.2 percent in June, after taking account of seasonal effects. This resulted in the annual rate of growth rising from 1.3 percent in May to 1.5 percent in June, leaving prices around three percent below the all-time high recorded in the summer of 2022.
“Housing market activity has been broadly flat over the last year, with the total number of transactions down by around 15 percent compared with 2019 levels. Transactions involving a mortgage are down even more (nearly 25 percent), reflecting the impact of higher borrowing costs. By contrast, the volume of cash transactions is actually around five percent above pre-pandemic levels.
“While earnings growth has been much stronger than house price growth in recent years, this hasn’t been enough to offset the impact of higher mortgage rates, which are still well above the record lows prevailing in 2021 in the wake of the pandemic. For example, the interest rate on a five-year fixed rate mortgage for a borrower with a 25 percent deposit was 1.3 percent in late 2021, but in recent months this has been nearer to 4.7 percent.
“As a result, housing affordability is still stretched. Today, a borrower earning the average UK income buying a typical first-time buyer property with a 20 percent deposit would have a monthly mortgage payment equivalent to 37 percent of take-home pay – well above the long run average of 30 percent.
“Our regional house price indices are produced quarterly, with data for Q2 (the three months to June) showing a mixed picture, with some regions seeing a modest pick up in growth, but others still recording annual price declines (see full table on page 4).
“Northern Ireland remained the best performing area, with prices up 4.1 percent compared with Q2 2023. Across England overall, prices were up 0.6 percent compared with Q2 2023, while Wales and Scotland both saw a 1.4 percent year-on-year rise. Northern England (comprising North, North West, Yorkshire & The Humber, East Midlands and West Midlands), continued to outperform southern England, with prices up 2.4 percent year-on-year.
“Meanwhile southern England (South West, Outer South East, Outer Metropolitan, London and East Anglia) saw a 0.3 percent year-on-year fall (the same as last quarter). London remained the best performing southern region with annual price growth maintained at 1.6 percent. East Anglia was the weakest performing region, with prices down 1.8 percent year-on-year.”
