Titanic in east Belfast was Northern Ireland’s hotspot for property sales of the final months of 2024, it has emerged.
At 188, the district electoral area had the highest number of ‘sale agreed’ homes in Northern Ireland of the last three months of 2024.
Botanic and Ormiston, two other areas in the city, claimed the number two and number three positions, with 171 and 153 sale-agreed properties respectively.
Titanic includes Ballymacarrett, Beersbridge, Bloomfield, Connswater, Sydenham and Woodstock.
Overall, PropertyPal said the housing market had performed strongly during October, November and December.
Lurgan, Lisnasharragh, Craigavon, Castlereagh South, Newtownards and Bangor Central completed the rankings for the highest number of sale-agreed homes, in descending order.
PropertyPal said that in Northern Ireland as a whole, buyer confidence had propelled an 11% increase in agreed sales to around 5,700 at the end of 2024, compared to the same quarter in 2023.
And there were 4,527 homes added to the market in the last three months of the year, an increase of 12%, which helped meet growing demand.
There was also “robust” house price growth, PropertyPal said, with the price of an average home increasing by 6.4% year on year to £220,000. That was up 1.7% over the quarter.
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However, that was outpaced by the rate of rental price growth, with average rents up 9% a year to £942 on average.
All council areas reported growing average house prices, though the highest was experienced in Derry City and Strabane, where prices increased 12.3% over the year to £197,800.
Mid and East Antrim was the council area with the lowest house prices, with an average of £190,100. That was up 4.3% over the year, and 0.5% over the quarter.
Jordan Buchanan, CEO of PropertyPal, said: “The local housing market ended 2024 on a strong note, with renewed confidence and activity driving momentum.
“Housing transactions, a key indicator of economic confidence, showed encouraging growth with approximately 5,700 newly agreed sales in quarter four, an 11% increase compared to last year.
“The typical time to find a buyer has also improved, now averaging 47 days, down from the long-term average of over 60 days.”
He said the rise in homes coming onto the market provided “cautious optimism” that an era of low supply could be coming to an end.
Mr Buchanan added: “Looking ahead, buyer sentiment remains positive, with search activity on PropertyPal up 15% and enquiries to estate agents increasing at similar levels.
“While the broader economic backdrop remains uncertain, recent positive inflation data should offer some relief to the Bank of England as they consider future interest rate movements.
“How quickly this translates to changes in mortgage pricing remains to be seen, but early indicators suggest a busy quarter one for the market.”
Belfast was the most expensive location to rent a house, with an average monthly rent of £1,102, which was up 9.8% year on year.
Fermanagh and Omagh was the only location with a higher rate of rental growth of 9.9%, up to an average of £700 a month. However, despite the steep rate of increase, it was still the cheapest area to rent a house.
News Catch Up – Tuesday 21 January