NI Housing: Average house price to hit £200k this year

The average house price in Northern Ireland is set to pass £200,000 this year, new official figures suggest. In the first quarter of this year the average price increased by 1.5% to just over £198,000. That was the ninth quarter in a row that prices have risen. The average price is already above £200,000 in five of NI's eleven local government districts. The highest average is £233,000 in Lisburn and Castlereagh while the lowest is £174,000 in Mid and East Antrim. The last time the average price across Northern Ireland was above £200,000 was in the first quarter of 2008. That was at the tail end of an unsustainable property bubble that began in the mid-2000s. By that stage the market was beginning to turn, and prices fell below the £200,000 mark in the second quarter of 2008, beginning a multi-year descent. The current rise in prices reflects a relatively strong jobs market and a lack of new houses being built. The letter, addressed to NI Secretary Sir Chris Bryant, calls on an international mediator to be appointed to find a resolution to the parade dispute. The former Lisnagelvin leisure centre in Derry, which opened in the 1980s, has been vacant since it closed in 2015. The EA s