BBC NEWS | UK | N Ireland | House prices still on rise

Confidence in the Northern Ireland housing market remains high with average house prices rising by more than 8%, a report has said.

The average price of a new home in the province now stands at just over �95,000.

But in south Belfast the average cost of a house is about �151,811, making it the most expensive place to live in the province.

The slump in the apartment market appears to have come to an end with prices up by nearly 10%.

The figures are contained in the latest quarterly House Price Index published on Tuesday.

It was produced by the University of Ulster in association with the Bank of Ireland.

Other findings:

All property types have demonstrated considerable increases in value year on year with terraced houses leading the market with a rise of 13.44%.

Londonderry/Strabane is the most affordable place to live with an average house price of �69,815.

Newly built properties made up 20% of the market.

Professor Stanley McGreal from the University of Ulster said the main finding from the survey was the continuing upward growth in house prices.

"Confidence remains high in the residential sector," he said.

"Demand levels (are) stimulated by the highly favourable interest rate environment for purchasers, still generally buoyant local economic conditions in the province, relatively low unemployment and new household formation.

"Average price levels for the year are up across all sectors of the market, and in most of the regional sub-markets throughout the province, with the highest rate of annual increase for terraced houses."

Building site
Newly built properties make up 20% of market

Chief executive of the Bank of Ireland David McGowan said the quarterly report was regarded as the "most authoritative and independent survey of the state of the Northern Ireland housing market".

"The index is an invaluable source of information for lenders, borrowers and all those who have an interest in the domestic property market," he said.

The index reports on the state of the housing market between April and June 2002 and is based on sales data for 2,194 properties sold across Northern Ireland.

It gathers information from across 80 commercial and other sources and presents market performance in an easily digestible format with specific regional analysis.

For the first time in the index's history, data for Belfast has been broken down into four separate geographic areas - north, south, east and west.

The average regional house prices are:

North Belfast - �71,617

South Belfast - �151,811

East Belfast - �99,712

West Belfast - �84,946

North Down - �111,235

Lisburn - �106,187

East Antrim - �85,550

Londonderry/Strabane - �69,815

Antrim/Ballymena - �82, 411

Coleraine/Limavady/North coast - �101,661