ok i admit it house prices ARE mental

master_blaster_2

just nosieng around and i saw this

http://www.watsonpropertysales.com/wb_WatsonDotNet/browse/Property.aspx?Property_ID=508


£165K for a STUDIO !!!!!!!!
one (not very big ) room

competitionscafe

In Belfast? You can get one in the posh bit of central London for that! (albeit a much smaller one!)
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=356897

southantrim3

You're right mate - those prices are MAD! This region must be one of the most expensive places to buy a house at present. I really do pity first time buyers. There has to be a crash sometime - this may continue for another couple of years but when people can't afford to buy a house any more, something has to happen.

ballyblack

And its in Templemore avenue, hardly the most salubrious of an area?

How things have changed

leftieM

For some reason new builds are poor value for money compared with old houses. Have you seen some of the 'gardens' that come with them? You could reach out the back window and knock on the window of the house behind. They're even building back-to-back houses now so you could have neighbours on three sides! Still, if people keep buying them, they'll keep building them.
There were new builds in Templemore Avenue when we were looking to buy about 6 years back that were 30% dearer than the older bigger houses nearby. As you say though, hardly the most salubrious part of the world. Still, maybe the EAs think that the surge in prices in Ballyhack and surrounding areas will have a knock on effect lower down the N'ards road.
I notice that the flat is gated to keep out the riff raff. That's probably why it's dearer.

xtratime

Has anyone any idea how many times greater average house prices are in Northern Ireland in relation to average earnings here?

bingo_bango

Annual Average Earnings £
April N.Ireland UK
2003 23,700 28,807
2004 25,175 30,209
2005 25,316 31,485

House prices:
Northern Ireland
Average Cost: £162,821 (from BBC website)

Earnings figures are the latest I could get ( HERE)

That equates to (on average) 6.4 times the wages.

talksalot81

I dont see where those earning figures came from on your link. They are alot higher than those I previously found at:

http://www.detini.gov.uk/cgi-bin/downdoc?id=2535

I presume the figures you have quoted are mean numbers so need to be taken with a pinch of salt. The median seems to be a better average in this instance and it was nearer £20k. Furthermore I thought that the average price in NI was somewhat higher now... but it is too late to look for a link. In any case, we are going at about 4% per month thuse the quoted number would be nearer £175k (cited number is 2 months old).

In any case, both these points go to increase the multiplier. I have seen it worked out to be nearer 9.

leftieM

Purely ancedotal this but...
There's a house for sale near me with Templeton Robinson so I've been keeping an eye on it. It went on in the autumn at 160k. It bid up to 207 before Christmas but the owner (an investor) decided to take it off the market until after Christmas. It went on at 185k. It has an offer of the asking price only for weeks now even though the EA said he had viewings every day. Interesting! More interestingly it had an offer of 203k that was withdrawn.
Also I have been to see a couple of places that have been on the market for a few weeks. Two had no offers and one had 2 offers of the asking price (just under the 3% threshold). I understand that more people are keeping an eye on the house they want rather than bidding immediately.
Has sanity been restored at last??

master_blaster_2

where abouts is this @ leftie

leftieM

Finaghy. It is probably a blip. Someone else I know is having a bidding war on her house in Finaghy.
The houses I looked at are in North Belfast. One of them was conveniently situated between the Shankill and the Ardoyne so maybe that didn't help its sale!