Northern Ireland buyers scramble to get on property ladder

Posted: 02 Mar 2007 10:54:12 GMT

Buyers in Northern Ireland are becoming almost "hysterical" to get onto the property ladder, estate agents have said

Buyers in Northern Ireland are becoming almost "hysterical" to get onto the property ladder, estate agents have said.

Local agents say that the rush to market is continuing to stoke property prices, which have risen by more than a third in recent years.

Buyers are also motivated by the fear that they will be priced out of the market if they do not gain a toe hold now.

"There are a lot of parents buying houses for their children - even though the kids are still too young to leave home," estate agent Sarah Cole told the BBC.

"They won't be able to do it in four or five years when their children are ready for their own place."

Recent research for the University of Ulster has shown that property values grew 41 per cent in Belfast last year alone.

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