Huge Fall In House Prices Revealed

Despite signs across Ireland that the recession might be 'bottoming-out', Northern Ireland's house prices have continued to fall.

They plunged a dramatic 35% over the last 12 months, a survey from the University of Ulster has shown.

The house price survey also showed that the drop in property prices since the peak of the market in late 2007 was even greater, down almost 40%.

The findings come shortly after a recent report from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, which suggested growing confidence among valuers that the worst of the price falls might now be over.

The UU survey, which is produced in partnership with the Bank of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, also found that the quarterly rate of decline was slowing.

But it warned that prices may have further to fall – in other words, house prices have continued to fall in recent months, but much less steeply.

The year-on-year drop to the end of March included a 10.8% fall during the first three months of 2009, according to the UU survey.

The decline in values slowed from the 16.6% experienced during the last quarter of 2008.

The average house price of around £157,000 is now back at the pre-property boom levels of early 2006.

The number of transactions also remains low, at just 692 in January, February and March, according to the UU Quarterly House Price Index.

See: Economy To Be Back On Track By 2011

(BMcC/JM)