The tight supply picture in Northern Ireland’s residential property market shows no sign of easing and prices are expected to rise further in the coming months.
Those are the findings of the latest RICS and Ulster Bank Residential Market Survey which revealed a drop in the number of houses coming onto the market in September and a corresponding rise in prices.
The survey questions estate agents across Northern Ireland and found that 100% of respondents reported a hike and expectations that continuation of the uptrend in the next three months.
The move has solidified the rally and confounded expectations for the market to ease back.
All eyes will now be on the RICS survey for October which will show whether the end of furlough and the end of the stamp duty holiday – both of which were stopped at on 30 th September – has dented demand.
“The imbalance between demand and supply remains the most striking feature of the latest RICS and Ulster Bank survey,” Samuel Dickey, RICS Northern Ireland Residential Property Spokesman, said. “And feedback from members provides little reason to believe this issue will be resolved anytime soon.”
He said demand will eventually ease but the tight supply picture will dominate.
“The market continues to move from a very abnormal period during Covid. We would expect demand to ease back from the incredibly high levels earlier in the year to more normal levels, but the challenge is that there isn’t the supply to meet even reduced demand and this is continuing to push up prices.”
Meanwhile, the mortgage market has been busy.
“September brought to an end the third quarter of the year,” Terry Robb, Head of Personal Banking at Ulster Bank, said. “And in our experience it was overall another very busy quarter for mortgage demand following on from very strong demand in the previous two quarters.”
