Northern Irish house prices are continuing to climb – however they are still notably short of their pre-crash peak.

That is the picture painted by Ulster University's latest bulletin into the Province's housing market, which it produces four times a year.

The average price of a property in quarter two of 2024 is £211,225 – up by 2.5% on the same time last year, and up by 2.6% on the previous quarter.

The last time they were this high was in Q2 2008, when the average price of a property was £226,934 (and it had been higher still a few months earlier, before the crash began).

placeholder image — A map of house prices, Q2 2024, from the Ulster University report

In the report, Ursula McAnulty, the head of research at the NI Housing Executive, said that there is likely to be "sustained demand for house purchases during the latter half of the year" and "the likelihood is therefore that the steady upward trajectory of house prices will continue".

It also quotes Michael Boyd, deputy CEO of Progressive Building Society, as saying: " A fall in the UK’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) has prompted a slide in mortgage rates and helped encourage buyers to come forward and sellers to list with the result that buyer enquiries, listings and transactions are all pushed higher.

"At the same time, the lack of new stock coming on the market – whether new builds or for resale – remains constant and has helped underpin prices."

However, there is a big difference in the average price of a house based on which council area you are in. Here are the averages for Q2 2024, compared with Q1: