There have been 32 redundancies at the McAfee Properties and Mortgages Group.

The company, which has several offices along the north coast as well as in Ballymena and Antrim, has blamed the downturn in Northern Ireland's property market for the redundancies.

The company, which still employs approximately 75 people, said the move was about safeguarding as many jobs as possible and that they will rehire when the market picks up.

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Partner Mark Pollock said: "There's just no confidence at the moment".

This is one of the most dramatic signs to date that Northern Ireland's property market has finally peaked and is on the way into a major cool-down period.

On Thursday, it emerged that the average house in Northern Ireland now costs more than £250,000, according to the latest survey.

However, the University of Ulster quarterly house price index survey showed growth had slowed considerably and sales had fallen sharply.

A recent report from the University of Ulster said that first time buyers were now very scarce and the only continuing sales activity was taking place in the higher value property sectors.

See:

Sales Falter As Average House Cost Tops £250,000

(GK/SP)