The average cost of renting a property in Belfast is now more than £1,000 per month, according to new analysis from PropertyPal.
The listing website said the average rent in the second quarter was up by 10% To £871 across the north over the year.
But prices were significantly higher in Belfast, where the average rent of £1,006 per month was 2.8% up since the start of the year and 10.8% up on the second quarter (Q2) 2023.
PropertyPal said the average rent paid in Ards & North Down surged 12% over the year to £927 per month, while Mid & East Antrim saw a 16.1% surge over the year to £742.
The average rental home reached ‘let agreed’ in just 27 days, ten days faster than the 2016-19 average.
“The greatest pressures are in the Mid & East Antrim and Ards & North Down areas, closely followed by Belfast,” said PropertyPal chief executive Jordan Buchanan.
“While there has been some softening in the overall supply-demand imbalance, the disparity remains significant.
“A considerable influx of new rental properties is required to bring typical rent growth closer to the pre-Covid-19 average of 3%.”
Meanwhile, PropertyPal said the average price of a house in the north had climbed 1.2% to £213,100 since the start of the year, representing an annual increase of 3.2%.
The website put the average apartment price at £148,800 in the second quarter, which was 0.5% up from the first three months of the year and 3.9% higher than 12 months earlier.
The average price of a new build home increased by 1.9% over the quarter to £240,300, representing an annual increase of 2.7%.
PropertyPal said 6,343 sales were agreed in Q2 2024, a 4% drop on the same quarter last year, but the time to reach ‘sale agreed’ for a new house listing was just 42 days.
The pre-Covid average stood at 50 days.
The official government-backed house price index for Northern Ireland put the average property price at £178,499 in the first quarter of 2024.
The official Q2 data will be published next month.
