Northern Ireland’s property market is experiencing tough times. In recent years it has seen annual house price rises of over 20% and increases of over 160% over the last 5 years, but it seems the party is now over. Northern Ireland’s property price increase has only risen 3% since the beginning of the year.

The most surprising thing about this drop is the speed by which this has taken place. The Northern Ireland property market was surging ahead at the beginning of this year despite the problems the rest of the UK was experiencing, but then with in 4 months its walls just crumbled. An average home in Northern Ireland now costs £231,000 with further drops in growth expected.

Also in the news today, house prices in the UK fell by a significant 2.5% in May, which is the largest amount since records began in 1991 according to Nationwide.

This meant that the average home lost £5,000 in value. This means the cost of a typical home in England is now about £173,500. This additional dip in house prices is partly due to poor consumer confidence in the economy.

According to some experts we could see house prices drop by as much as 20-25% this year. It looks like we better strap ourselves in it could be a frightening ride.

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