Local housing market surveyors have expressed their optimism about the year ahead as Northern Ireland's housing market has continued to outperform all other UK regions.

The figures were revealed in the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Ulster Bank Residential Market Survey.

Over the past three months, a net balance of 53 per cent of Northern Ireland respondents reported a rise in house prices, compared to -30 per cent of respondents in the UK as a whole.

NI respondents expect that prices will continue rising through the first quarter of 2024. A net balance of 38 per cent of NI respondents expect prices to increase, compared to -13 per cent for the UK as a whole. The figure was also a marked improvement from -23 per cent in January of 2023.

In Northern Ireland, a net balance of 24 per cent of respondents reported that new buyer inquiries rose last month. This was compared to -3 per cent for the UK as a whole. It was also a marked improvement from the January 2023 figure of -22 per cent.

A net balance of 24 per cent of NI surveyors reported a rise in new properties coming onto the market last month. This is up from -25 per cent at the beginning of 2023.

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In terms of sales, a net balance of +16 per cent of respondents in NI reported a rise, compared to -3 per cent for the UK as a whole.

NI respondents also appear to be more optimistic about the sales outlook for the first three months of 2024 than their UK counterparts, with a net balance of 22 per cent of NI surveyors anticipating a rise in sales, compared to the UK average of 12 per cent.

In a years time, +68 per cent of NI respondents expect house prices to be higher and a net balance of 50 per cent of NI respondents expect sales activity to be higher compared

to +34 per cent for the UK as a whole.

Samuel Dickey, RICS Northern Ireland Residential Property Spokesman, said: "2023 was an eventful year with economic and mortgage uncertainty, as well as adding political uncertainty into the mix. In this environment, the local housing market probably outperformed many people’s expectations, certainly in terms of prices, which held up well and indeed increased. It’s probably unsurprising that local surveyors continue to be more optimistic than their UK counterparts for 2024. However, whilst the data suggests improvements in the number of properties coming onto the market, the big challenge locally this year will continue to be housing supply. This will impact the number of sales and should also continue to support prices. We expect demand to increase as the mortgage environment continues to improve, and I expect that good quality housing that is priced reasonably to sell really well."

Terry Robb, Head of Personal Banking at Ulster Bank, stated: "As we move into 2024, Ulster Bank is strongly committed to supporting homebuyers and remortgagers. We have just reduced the rates on our new business and existing customer product ranges from this week, which includes rate reductions on two and five year deals for purchase and remortgage, as well as on our green mortgages. Last year ended with good demand in December and we expect that to continue into this year as well."