Annual performance provides a snapshot comparing the current average price with corresponding statistics for the second quarter of 2007 which, more or less, coincided with the peak of the housing market boom.
Comparative analysis over the year highlights that all property types, with the exception of apartments, have declined in average sale price. The apartment sector, average price £238,449 up by 21.3%, still continues to be influenced by a high profile schemes in Belfast and appears to be running counter to the overall market trend. The sharpest reduction in average price over the year is for semi-detached houses (£196,166) down by 18.6% followed by semidetached bungalows (£181,040) down by 12.5%.
Both terraced/townhouses (£176,915) and detached houses (£311,804) are down by 10.5% on average, while the average sale price of detached bungalows (£300,844) has declined by 2.1%.
Short-term performance considers price levels in the second quarter of 2008 against those for the first quarter of 2008. Over the quarter, the weighted rate of price decline at 0.6% suggests that there has been a slight decline rather than a catastrophic drop in prices, which have steadied out over the quarter. While most sectors have reduced price levels over the quarter there is the exception of terraced/townhouses which are up by 3.5% and apartments up by 11.8%. The greatest quarterly decline is for detached houses down by 12.1%, semi-detached houses down by 7%, semi-detached bungalows by 2.5% and detached bungalows down by 3.2%.
