NI house price rises

Overall up 11.2% Apartments up 24.8% Semi-detached up 14.1% Terraced up 13.3% Detached bungalows up 10.23% Semi-detached bungalows 6.7% Detached houses up 5.6%

The Quarterly House Price Index survey by the University of Ulster and the Royal Institution of Charter Surveyors (RICS) and funded by Ulster Bank is considered a good barometer of the Northern Ireland housing market.

House prices rose by 11.2% in the second quarter of 2000, in comparision to prices in the second quarter of 1999 - with the average home in Northern Ireland now worth �79,579.

However the figures hide considerable disparities between different property types and locations.

The boom in the prices of apartments seems to have continued, particularly in Belfast.

Last quarter price rises

Overall up 17.5 Apartments up 34% Semi-detached up 17% Terraced up 22% Detached houses up 14%

They rose by almost a quarter (24.83%) in value over the year, while detached house prices rose only by 5.56% and semi-detached bungalows by 6.7%.

The prices of semi-detached and terraced houses, however, are continuing to rise. The survey said they rose by 14.3% and 13.3% respectively.

There was also a �30,000 gap between the price of a home in the affluent North Down area and one in the Londonderry area in the north of the province.

The RICS said it was not surprising that some sectors of the market were slowing down - due to the recent rises in mortgage interest rates, the disappearance of government mortgage interest tax relief and the relatively slow salary inflation in Northern Ireland.

RICS spokesman Tom McCelland said: "Confidence in Belfast is still strong, particularly in the apartment sector. Elsewhere there are signs that the rate of price increase is slowing.

"This gentle slowing reflects the larger UK market and the gentle landing that the Chancellor is engineering to end the boom in the South East [of England]."