Mid Ulster house prices held steady in July

House prices remained steady in Mid Ulster in July, new figures show. The lack of movement maintains the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 6.8% annual growth. The average Mid Ulster house price in July was £162,045, Land Registry figures show –largely unchanged from June. Over the month, the picture was similar to that across Northern Ireland, where prices remained static, and Mid Ulster underperformed compared to the 2% rise for the UK as a whole. Across the UK, the the average UK house price leapt by 15.5% in the year to July, marking the biggest increase in 19 years. But the increase in annual inflation was mainly because of “a base effect” from the falls in prices seen this time last year, as a result of changes in the stamp duty holiday, the ONS said. Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Mid Ulster rose by £10,000 – putting the area fourth among Northern Ireland’s 11 local authorities with price data for annual growth. The best annual growth in the region was in Ards and North Down, where property prices increased on average by 9%, to £196,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Belfast gained just 3.8% in value, giving an average price of £156,000. How do property prices in Mid Ulster compare? Buyers paid 4.2% less than the average price in Northern Ireland (£169,000) in July for a property in Mid Ulster. Across Northern Ireland, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £292,000. The most expensive properties in Northern Ireland were in Ards and North Down – £196,000 on average, and 1.2 times as much as more than in Mid Ulster. Ards and North Down properties cost 1.3 times as much as homes in Derry City and Strabane (£150,000 average), at the other end of the scale. The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea. Factfile Average property price in July Mid Ulster: £162,045Northern Ireland:£169,063UK: £292,118 Annual growth to July Mid Ulster: +6.8%Northern Ireland: +6.3%UK: +15.5% Best and worst annual growth in Northern Ireland Ards and North Down: +9%Belfast: +3.8%