Average house price in N Ireland now less than £150k!

southantrim3

Was looking at the BBC news website section for Northern Ireland and saw that headline. Pretty interesting. Last time prices were that low was back in 2005.

Interested in people's thoughts if you're a first time buyer or looking to move.

tara747

Happy to see that, and hope they continue to fall! OH and I are potential FTBs with a big deposit (see sig... and that's just my savings) and are thrilled that prices are falling! We are going to wait to see the outcome of the cuts and maybe start looking properly next year... by which prices will probably be down another 20% or so.

:beer:

tara747

And in case you doubt me, the report's own author says this:

Bank Of Ireland UK Economist Alan Bridle highlighted the fall in prices in Belfast with the average price of housing falling substantially by 21.7% over the year to £138,131.
The highest priced city location was south Belfast where the average fell sharply to £183,560, followed by the east (£174,459), west (£125,096) and north (£97,293).
"Potential buyers remain discouraged by uncertainty over economic prospects and in terms of supply there is no shortage of houses available to buy or to rent," Mr Bridle said.

tara747

Belfast prices down to £138k, even lower than the average! Wayhey!

This gets better

Old_Git

most people wont mind if prices fall ,unless they bought in 2006 or 2007 ,in that case they are stuffed .

spendaholiceejit

One one hand it's great, but I have friends who bought in 2006 and they are really in difficulty at the moment. They were warned though, and got caught up in the "must own property" rush. I feel really bad for them.

one2escape

Can see how first time buyers are happy but there will a lot of people like me now who can't move which cant help the market either. We can comfortably pay are mortgage (at the moment, touch wood) but are trapped due to the dramatic fall in house prices and now in negative equality with the numbers to increase if the house prices come down further. People need to know this isn't healthy if people can't afford to sell where will the houses come from? The news coming out his very negative and you need a big deposit to get a mortgage. From what I heard yesterday on the radio it will be this way for at least 2 years but they also expect interest rates to stay low so some good news. It is a buyers market and good luck to you in buying a house but by the looks of things its still to come down more.

tara747

spendaholiceejit wrote: »

One one hand it's great, but I have friends who bought in 2006 and they are really in difficulty at the moment. They were warned though, and got caught up in the "must own property" rush. I feel really bad for them.

I have friends in this situation too. They just didn't weigh up the risks, they were well warned mind you!!! But having said that, I do feel sorry for them.

It fairly makes up for the years of being told 'oh, rent's dead money, you're foolish not to buy'!

one2escape wrote: »

Can see how first time buyers are happy but there will a lot of people like me now who can't move which cant help the market either. We can comfortably pay are mortgage (at the moment, touch wood) but are trapped due to the dramatic fall in house prices and now in negative equality with the numbers to increase if the house prices come down further. People need to know this isn't healthy if people can't afford to sell where will the houses come from? The news coming out his very negative and you need a big deposit to get a mortgage. From what I heard yesterday on the radio it will be this way for at least 2 years but they also expect interest rates to stay low so some good news. It is a buyers market and good luck to you in buying a house but by the looks of things its still to come down more.

Plenty of people CAN afford to sell though, and others (sorry to say it) will be forced to because of the three Ds (death, divorce and debt). I am glad that you can pay your mortgage, that is a positive thing for you and you are luckier than some.

Big deposit needed? Bring it on!!!! It was the 100% mortgages that caused this mess, the bigger the deposit requirements the lower house prices must go and the bigger your deposit is as a % of the house price! So your £30k deposit is suddenly 30% of a £100k house (if the same house cost £200k in 2007, it'd only be 15%). Plus you've had an extra 3 years of saving and nice low rents. Bonus!

FTBs rightly recognise that ANYTHING that lowers house prices is a good thing, and those of us who *have* saved a good deposit for years have a decent bite of the cherry now. So really, it's good news, not bad. Careful saving, frugality and common sense are finally being rewarded! :T

Pythagorous

tara747 wrote: »

I have friends in this situation too. They just didn't weigh up the risks, they were well warned mind you!!!

I can see your point Tara, but you also have to remember that people were badly misled by banks, the media & even politicians with regard to the housing market and it was difficult to see the true extent of the risks people were actually taking on.

BigAndy_79

I bought my first property in mid April for 98K. In hindsight I should really have gone a few grand lower. The same property was on the market in mid 2008 for 175K.

I, myself, are disappointed that the prices are dropping a little, but I have a mortgage that is 0.5%, so that must account for something at least....

x12yhp

The situation is good for the majority; as already stated, the only exceptions are those who let themselves get caught up in the tsunami. To those who are stuck on the ladder and cannot move... the potential FTBers are there waiting but a drop in prices is not enough for most. Unless one has a big deposit saved, the availability of funds has tracked prices downwards. It is no easier for your average FTB now than it was a couple of years ago; in fact it may be harder when you consider the necessity of deposit, potential for job cuts throughout, realisation that IR are almost certainly going to rise eventually. Until the economy really really gets going, the current level of house price drops are not enough to start the market again. Prices need to undershoot the availability of finance to get people moving. I am afraid to say that the people who are 'stuck' on the market are, in many respects, there because they are there! If they do not drop prices then the market wont start moving at the bottom. If the bottom is stuck then everyone else is stuck.... catch 22 really.

As for the people who were misled over the boom times... well we are all ready to riot as soon as we get a whiff of big brother trying to 'nanny' us... can we really complain when they are not there and we get it wrong on our own?