Belfast house prices held steady in March

House prices remained steady in Belfast in March, 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 – though still the lowest in Northern Ireland. The average Belfast house price in March was £152,603, Land Registry figures show – largely unchanged from February. Over the month, the picture was similar to that across Northern Ireland, where prices remained static, and Belfast underperformed compared to the 0.3% rise for the UK as a whole. Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Belfast rose by £9,700 – putting the area bottom among Northern Ireland’s 11 local authorities with price data for annual growth. The best annual growth in the region was in Causeway Coast and Glens, where property prices increased on average by 14.8%, to £183,000. How do property prices in Belfast compare? Buyers paid 7.3% less than the average price in Northern Ireland (£165,000) in March for a property in Belfast. Across Northern Ireland, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £278,000. The most expensive properties in Northern Ireland were in Lisburn and Castlereagh – £190,000 on average, and 1.2 times as much as more than in Belfast. Lisburn and Castlereagh properties cost 1.3 times as much as homes in Derry City and Strabane (£146,000 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 March Belfast: £152,603Northern Ireland:£164,590UK: £278,436 Annual growth to March Belfast: +6.8%Northern Ireland: +10.4%UK: +9.8% Best and worst annual growth in Northern Ireland Causeway Coast and Glens: +14.8%Belfast: +6.8%