Landlords behind NI price boom

The boom in Northern Ireland house prices over the last year is largely down to strong buy-to-let investment.

According to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), the massive gains seen in the past 12 months are not down to a shortage of housing supply.

The organisation says that buy-to-let is driving force but it admits that the current growth levels cannot be sustained.

"Certainly the biggest single factor that's driven it over the last 18 months has been the buy-to-let market," said Joe Fry, head of research at the NIHE.

"That's coming on top of the normal demographic pressures: increasing employment, earnings and so on. But the key thing that's made the [rise] so fast, I think everyone's agreed, is the investment sector.

"The problem in Northern Ireland is that, in most cases the supply is there, but it doesn't entirely reflect the needs of the lower end of the market," he continued.

According to the University of Ulster House Price Index, property prices increased by 51 per cent in the year leading to April 2007, putting the average price at £240,408.

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