Northern Ireland house prices increased by 14.2% in the year to February, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

At £152,000 on average, properties are still approximately 43% below their 2007 peak.

Annual house price increases in England were driven by an annual increase in the East of 10.7% and in London of 9.4%.

Peter Williams, Executive Director of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA), said: "Slowing house price inflation in today’s ONS data for February suggests that actions taken by the Financial Policy Committee to dampen the growth of last year have done their job and put the housing market on a more stable footing for the short term at least.

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"Seeing annual price rises dip below an annual increase of 6% outside London and the South East is a step in the right direction to improve affordability. However, in part the slowdown has only been possible by squeezing potential buyers out of the market by restricting access to finance, creating some extra breathing space for politicians to get to grips with the fundamental supply/demand imbalance.

"The Conservative pledge to extend the Right to Buy scheme is a quick win to help boost a flagging home ownership sector and stimulate turnover in a market where transaction levels are now three times slower than it was in the 1980s. However, it carries no guarantee of greater house building as a result. The danger is that it will weaken the future capacity of the social renting sector to provide a safety net for those who cannot afford to house themselves via the private market."

(CD)