Northern Ireland house prices starting to cool

House prices in Northern Ireland are starting to cool off following a year of massive house price growth last year, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in Northern Ireland.

Sales will pick up in 2008, according to the RICS, although people selling their houses will have to be more realistic about their price.

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."

He added that ultimately 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".

At the end of last year Northern Ireland saw the fastest house price growth in the UK at 24.2 per cent which worked out at £150 a day.

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