The average price of a Londonderry or Strabane house decreased by seven per cent between quarter three and quarter four of 2013, it’s been revealed.
The North West is one of only two areas - North Belfast is the other - where average prices fell below the £100k mark.
Between Quarter 3 and Quarter 4, the average price of houses in the North West dipped from £106,362 to £99,322 - a fall of £7,040.
Despite this, and the fact that seven out of 14 areas measured also showed dips, the authors of the latest University of Ulster Quarterly House Price Index said the data are further evidence that the housing market is showing positive signs of recovery.
Prices have risen from £129k to £132k across Northern Ireland as whole. Coleraine/Limavady/North Coast was one of the areas contributing to this overall rise; prices were up from £115k to £124k there.
Alan Bridle, Economist at Bank of Ireland UK, said: “The latest survey offers further evidence that 2013 was the year of ‘bottoming out’.
“While local markets will inevitably stabilise and recover at different paces, there is a healthy momentum for Northern Ireland as a whole coming into 2014, with the outlook for transactions, average prices and mortgage volumes more favourable than compared to recent years.”
The Housing Executive’s Head of Research, Joe Frey, said: “Affordability remains a key issue for lenders and policy makers. We hope that the new composite Measure of Affordability developed in partnership with University of Ulster, which takes into account deposits and not just house price to income ratios,will provide a more nuanced insight into the on-going challenges faced by first-time buyers, by lenders and indeed by policy makers attempting to address the challenges of a very complex market.”