House price growth in Northern Ireland has accelerated since records began in 1973.

The country is now on par with London for bucking the cooling trend in house price growth that is appearing across the United Kingdom. The average house price in NI now exceeds £200,000.

Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide’s chief economist, said: “ Northern Ireland and London stand out as the leaders with the fastest annual rates of house price growth in the UK. In contrast, the Northern and North West regions and Wales saw the biggest slowdown in the annual rate of house price growth.

Overall, the annual rate of house price growth in the UK is firm, but the quarterly data suggest that the underlying rate of growth is now starting to cool. During the first three months of the year the rate of house price inflation slowed from 3.3% to 2.2%. However, London and Northern Ireland bucked this softening trend with house prices increasing by 4.4% and 14.6% respectively during the first quarter.”