Belfast · report
People and new homes in Belfast
In 2025 the population fell by 649 while 553 homes were finished.
- Homes finished, 2025
- 553
- Population change, 2025
- −649
Population change and homes finished in Belfast
The population's yearly change, net migration plus births minus deaths (ONS), against homes finished (MHCLG and the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland statistics).
Population change
Show the numbers
| Year | Population change |
|---|---|
| 2025 | -649 |
| 2024 | 1,462 |
| 2023 | 2,178 |
| 2022 | 3,014 |
| 2021 | -1,607 |
| 2020 | -1,371 |
| 2019 | 1,038 |
| 2018 | 1,478 |
| 2017 | -263 |
| 2016 | 107 |
| 2015 | 2,236 |
| 2014 | 1,555 |
| 2013 | 1,165 |
| 2012 | 328 |
Homes finished
Show the numbers
| Year | Homes finished |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 553 |
| 2024 | 587 |
| 2023 | 470 |
| 2022 | 810 |
| 2021 | 760 |
| 2020 | 597 |
| 2019 | 719 |
| 2018 | 635 |
| 2017 | 646 |
| 2016 | 720 |
| 2015 | — |
| 2014 | — |
| 2013 | — |
| 2012 | — |
Year by year
| Year | Net migration | Births minus deaths | Population change | Homes finished |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | −1,531 | +1,859 | +328 | — |
| 2013 | −489 | +1,654 | +1,165 | — |
| 2014 | −219 | +1,774 | +1,555 | — |
| 2015 | +881 | +1,355 | +2,236 | — |
| 2016 | −1,370 | +1,477 | +107 | 720 |
| 2017 | −1,540 | +1,277 | −263 | 646 |
| 2018 | +477 | +1,001 | +1,478 | 635 |
| 2019 | −67 | +1,105 | +1,038 | 719 |
| 2020 | −1,973 | +602 | −1,371 | 597 |
| 2021 | −2,310 | +703 | −1,607 | 760 |
| 2022 | +2,505 | +509 | +3,014 | 810 |
| 2023 | +1,981 | +197 | +2,178 | 470 |
| 2024 | +1,243 | +219 | +1,462 | 587 |
| 2025 | −793 | +144 | −649 | 553 |
Births, deaths and moves are ONS's mid-year estimates, each year to 30 June, counting moves to and from the rest of the UK and abroad. Homes finished are new homes completed in the calendar year, from each nation's house-building statistics; England's run below its net additions. A home houses a household, not a person: two or three new residents per new home is roughly one home per new household.
Other reports for Belfast
Figures for Northern Ireland: Belfast has no reliable figures of its own.
At the average sale price, a home costs £184,768. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is £852 a month. The UK sets no cap on the payment; no more than 15% of new mortgages may lend over 4.5 times income.
- Payment, two incomes
- 14%
- Payment, one income
- 28%
Figures for United Kingdom: Belfast has no reliable figures of its own.
Owning the average home costs less each month than renting it. Owning counts interest, running costs and the return the deposit could earn, at the average sale price; rent is the average of all private tenancies. Repaying the loan is saving, so it is left out.
- Rent per month
- £1,406
- Owning per month
- £1,286
9.6% fewer homes were started in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.
- Started, 12 months
- 629
- Per 1,000 residents
- 1.8
Figures for United Kingdom: Belfast has no reliable figures of its own.
Buyers living abroad bought 1.8% of the homes sold here in the four quarters to Q1 2025.
- Bought by buyers abroad, 12 months
- 1.8%
Sale prices have fallen by 3% or more once since 2005. That fall began in Q3 2007.
- Deepest fall
- −58.9%
- Recovery from the low
- Not yet
6.8% of the 160,154 homes counted in the 2021 census had nobody usually living in them.
- Empty, 2021 census
- 6.8%
- Empty homes
- 10,946