The report looks at trends in house prices in Northern Ireland

The average home in the province is now worth �106,574, an increase of just over 2% on the previous University of Ulster Quarterly House Price Index survey.

The report, published on Monday in conjunction with the Bank of Ireland and the Housing Executive, indicates that prices went up 8.6% over the year.

Its authors, Professor Alastair Adair, Professor Stanley McGreal and Suzanne Allen, said this was a "steady if unspectacular rise".

Based on a sample of 1,921 open market transactions in a range of house types, the first quarter is traditionally a quieter period for house sales.

AVERAGE REGIONAL PRICES Northern Ireland: �106,574 Belfast: �105,037 North Down: �114,527 Lisburn: �127,537 East Antrim: �91,616 Londonderry/Strabane: �89,451 Antrim/Ballymena: �102,555 Coleraine/Limavady/North Coast: �102,485 Fermanagh/South Tyrone: �113,775 Mid Ulster: �112,804 Mid and South Down: �110,308 Craigavon/Armagh: �107,315

South Belfast remained the most expensive area with an average price of �127,987, closely followed by Lisburn, while across the city, north Belfast was the cheapest with prices averaging �84,567.

Semi-detached homes were the best performing sector, with an average price of �100,448 - the first time it had exceeded the �100,000 barrier. It represented 29% of the survey.

Terraced houses also made up 29% of the survey, performing strongly with an average of �76,389, up by almost 9%.

This strong price growth in what are regarded as entry points into the housing market suggested that demand levels remained good, according to the report.

The report found that a rise of less than 1% in the price of apartments to an average of �98,752 reflected the increased targeting of new developments towards first-time buyers, particularly in Belfast.

Semi-detached bungalows remained a weak performing sector, with a declining share of the market - prices rose by 6.2% to a �93,008 average.

Our main conclusion is that the local housing market has remained relatively vibrant across most sectors Report's authors

Detached houses increased by 10.65% to �163,685 while detached bungalows went up by 5.8% to �134,084.

The report's authors said the current state of the housing market contrasted with the more volatile rates of growth in previous years and with other parts of the UK, where prices were still increasing at a significant rate.

"Our main conclusion is that the local housing market has remained relatively vibrant across most sectors.

"The 8.6% increase in the first quarter fits the pattern of price growth we've been observing in our recent reports."

Bank of Ireland economist Alan Bridle said comfort could be taken from the much slower increases compared to certain other parts in the UK, where prices were rising by nearly 2% a month.

"Even though interest rates are likely to rise further this year, they would need to almost double from their current level before borrowers faced the same pain as they did in the late 1990s."

Housing Executive Head of Research Joe Frey said they were concerned that first-time buyers were facing growing difficulties, especially in areas within commuting distance of Belfast.

Mr Frey said the Housing Executive had developed an affordability index "to allow better targeting of affordable homes to future developments in these areas".