Property slump ends as houses sell again

Property slump ends as houses sell again

9 July 2014

THE property market has taken off following years of stagnation with new developments suddenly selling out across Down District.

Estate agents have confirmed that dozens of new-builds have been snapped up in recent weeks with entire developments booked out before completion.

They report that buyers have returned to the market en masse in the past eight weeks with growing confidence that prices, which have risen by 8.4 per cent in the past year in Northern Ireland, will now continue to grow.

With Nationwide’s quarterly house price index this week confirming local affordability, and Northern Ireland’s property remaining the least expensive place in the UK to buy a home despite growth, local experts say first-time buyers are now fuelling demand.

There is a particular buoyancy in the new-build market in Downpatrick, with four new developments sold out from the plans in the past few weeks.

One of these is the upmarket Strangford Manor development at Strangford Road, which has now been closed to new bookings until the end of 2015.

Nine semi-detached houses and two apartments in the first phase of the new development, which was put on hold since the property crash of 2008, have been sold from the plans for between £135,000 and £206,000.

The 17-house St. Patrick’s Way development on the outskirts of the town at Ballyalton, featuring detached and semi-detached houses from £101,750, has also filled to capacity in record time with most units booked before the builders arrived on site.

The first four houses of a new semi-detached development at Malone Drive recently sold within 24 hours of their launch with a long list of potential buyers waiting for the next phase to be released, while seven sites that lay abandoned within the prestigious Meadows development at Strangford Road since 2008, are now under development, with the first two properties already sold for £220,000.

A new development at Race Course View, featuring 10 four bedroom semi-detached houses for £125,000, is also filled.

Similar developments further afield are also sold out including 12 semi-detached houses in a new development at Cotswold Close in Saintfield and three higher end homes at Ashley Heights in Newcastle, which have been snapped up from the plans. There is also huge demand for two new developments in Castlehill and Church Street, Castlewellan.

Although estate agents have reported that the first time buyers are driving the new surge in activity, enticed by keen prices and the affordability of co-ownership, families relocating home from England are also availing of the relative good local value of large detached homes and investors also making a return to the market.

Mr. John Thompson, from UPS, yesterday said there had been a dramatic turnaround in the past two months following seven years of stagnation.

“The market has become stronger in the past couple of months with growing confidence that the market will only travel up,” he said.

“Many of our buyers are young couples who have been renting for a period of time and are now wanting to get onto the property ladder.

“It is also very encouraging that sites are being sold again for development purposes as it has been a while since we have seen that type of movement.”

Mr. William Wilson, from Wilson’s of Newcastle, said renewed interest was obvious with people realising prices are at the bottom.

“Things are picking up, there is definitely a recent improvement,” he said.

Mary Lou Press, from Alexander Reid and Frazer Estate Agents, agreed the local market was brisk with 16 sales completed in the past fortnight alone.

“A lot of properties are being taken by first-time buyers and new builds are particularly popular but there is also growth in resales and investors are also returning to the local market,” she said.

“Things are brilliant.”