NI average house price set to hit £200k

The average house price in Northern Ireland is set to pass £200,000 this year, new official figures suggest.

In the first quarter of this year the average price increased by 1.5% to just over £198,000.

That was the ninth quarter in a row that prices have risen.

The average price is already above £200,000 in five of NI's eleven local government districts.

The highest average is £233,000 in Lisburn and Castlereagh while the lowest is £174,000 in Mid and East Antrim.

The last time the average price across Northern Ireland was above £200,000 was in the first quarter of 2008.

That was at the tail end of an unsustainable property bubble that began in the mid-2000s.

By that stage the market was beginning to turn, and prices fell below the £200,000 mark in the second quarter of 2008, beginning a multi-year descent.

The current rise in prices reflects a relatively strong jobs market and a lack of new houses being built.