While there are conflicting signals on the cost of buying property nationally, Northern Ireland town's and cities now occupy all but two of the Halifax's Top 10 most sought-after places to buy a home, with the overall list topped by Newtownards.

Although predictions of a UK house price crash have surfaced nationally - amid claims of overvaluing and an apparent reluctance of the Bank of England to reduce interest rates – the new report has shown that price inflation in Northern Ireland went up by a healthy 29.1% in the past year.

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This is said to be the largest increase in the UK – tempered only by news that house price growth has dipped by a small percentage - 3.2% - between the second and third quarters of 2007.

The Halifax House Price Index, for the third quarter of this year, will come as welcome relief to many local homeowners who feared price drops as it takes the average price of a house in the Province to £221,004, which is 11% higher than the UK average of £198,898.

The top 10 UK hotspots are led by Newtownards at number one, followed by Carrickfergus, Craigavon (£217,806), Newtownabbey (£196,750), Lisburn, Belfast (£220,783) and Ballymena (£221,103) which all had big gains.

The English towns of Sandbach in the north-west and Slough in the south-east are the first locations outside of the Province to make the list, occurring in eighth and ninth positions before Bangor appears at number 10.

Greater London prices are now only one-and-a-half times higher than those in Northern Ireland compared to 2.6 times in the third quarter of 2002.

(BMcC)