HOME sales in the North’s residential property market improved in March following the slowest start to a year in a decade and this rise has been reflected in Fermanagh.
New government data also showed first-quarter sales of non-residential properties hit the highest number since 2008.
It’s good news for the local property market, which is forecast to improve further over the summer.
“The market has stabilised and coming into the summer months a lot of people will put their properties on the market. Families will be looking to get moves done while the kids are off from school,” Enniskillen real estate agent, Nick Finlay of Montgomery Finlay, said.
“It’ll definitely see an increase in demand and will give the property market more life at this time of year.
“It has picked up in recent weeks and is much more stable. The turnaround of properties is a wee bit quicker and the market is more buoyant than over the winter months.”
Just 3,250 homes were sold in Northern Ireland during January and February 2023, according to HMRC. That was the weakest opening two months to a year here since 2013.
But the latest provisional housing market data showed 2,150 residential transactions recorded during March. This was on par with the March average for the three years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
PropertyPal’s first quarter data for 2023 similarly showed a recovery in sales during March, which Mr Finlay believed would continue to increase.
“It was quieter over the winter period and the increase in interest rates made people uneasy. People have reassessed that now and found that affordability is still there,” he explained.
“Buyers have realised that the impact of the interest rates hasn’t been as severe as they once thought.
“The bigger properties that are over £300,000 plus are not moving as quickly as they would have done this time last year, but certainly, everything up to that value is going pretty well.
“The rental market is still exceptionally busy. There is a massive demand out there – you’d now be renting a two-bedroom apartment for £650 a month.”
Meanwhile, HMRC’s latest figures showed a strong start to the year for the non-residential property market in the North.
Some 450 non-residential property deals were done in March 2023. That made it the busiest March in Northern Ireland since 2007.
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