Hot Properties in Northern Ireland Feeling a Chill
During 2007 people selling their homes in Northern Ireland enjoyed a boom in price growth. However the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has noted that both sales and prices are now dropping in steady beat with the global economy.
Tom McClelland, housing spokesperson for RICS Northern Ireland, said, “The market changed considerably during the course of 2007 and the new reality is a market where agents have to work harder to achieve sales and sellers have to be more realistic about asking prices.”
With sales expected to pick up during next year, those selling their houses will experience changes in both competition and price ranges that are significantly different from those in the recent past. They will no longer see the fast price growth they experienced last year in the UK where sales increased to 24.2%, or £150 a day.
Mr. McClelland added that first time buyers “could benefit from the change in the market” as there is “less competition for properties in the sector of the market within the first time buyer’s price range.”
When housing bubbles such as the one seen in 2007 burst, it is often the best time for well positioned purchasers to take advantage of the downturn, and thus will also begin assisting the eventual recovery of the economy.