Northern Ireland · report
Affordability in Northern Ireland
At the average sale price, a home costs £202,487. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is £934 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
- 15%
- Payment, one income
- 30%
Try your own numbers
Starting from the average sale price of £202,487 in Northern Ireland, the median pay of a full-time employee, £37,129 a year before tax (2025, Northern Ireland), and a mortgage rate of 4.6% (August 2026).
The payment takes 15% of pay before tax. The UK sets no limit on it.
- Home price
- £202,487
- Monthly payment
- £934
- Share of pay before tax
- 15%
The mortgage payment as a share of income, year by year
The average home with 10% down over 30 years, at each year's average price and rate, against one and against two of that year's median full-time pay.
- Two median incomes
- One median income
Show the numbers
| Period | Two median incomes | One median income |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 14.1% | 28.2% |
| 2024 | 15.0% | 30.0% |
| 2023 | 14.4% | 28.8% |
| 2022 | 11.5% | 23.1% |
| 2021 | 10.1% | 20.2% |
| 2020 | 9.5% | 19.0% |
| 2019 | 9.7% | 19.3% |
| 2018 | 9.6% | 19.3% |
| 2017 | 9.4% | 18.9% |
| 2016 | 9.5% | 19.0% |
Income is the median gross annual pay of a full-time employee living in the area (ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings), before tax: one person's pay, not a household's income. Northern Ireland's councils take Northern Ireland's figure. The UK sets no limit on the payment as a share of income: no more than 15% of new mortgages may lend over 4.5 times income, and lenders test each borrower against higher rates. The Bank of England's rate on new mortgages starts in 2016, so earlier years show no payment.
Other reports for Northern Ireland
Figures for United Kingdom: Northern Ireland 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
20.4% fewer homes were started in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.
- Started, 12 months
- 5,539
- Per 1,000 residents
- 2.9
Figures for United Kingdom: Northern Ireland 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
- −56.6%
- Recovery from the low
- Not yet
In 2025 the population grew by 677 while 5,843 homes were finished: 0.1 new residents for every new home.
- New residents per new home, 2025
- 0.1
- Population change, 2025
- +677
6.4% of the 821,060 homes counted in the 2021 census had nobody usually living in them.
- Empty, 2021 census
- 6.4%
- Empty homes
- 52,250