Where are you buying?
Written for buyers, not for search engines. Where the housing stock is, what kinds of buyers each area attracts, and what to watch for on the mortgage side.
Belfast
Belfast's housing market is really five markets. South Belfast has the city's most expensive family homes and a dense student rental market around Queen's. East Belfast is popular with families and first-time buyers for its terraces, semis and new builds. North Belfast and West Belfast have some of the most affordable housing in the city, alongside larger period houses and new developments. The city centre and Titanic Quarter are mostly apartments, which brings leases, service charges and, for some blocks, cladding paperwork that lenders will want to see.
Across the city, watch for non-standard construction in some post-war estates, and for terraces with unusual layouts that valuers flag. Neither is a barrier, but both narrow the lender list.
South Belfast
Malone, Stranmillis and the Lisburn Road. The city's priciest family homes and its biggest student rental market.
South Belfast guideEast Belfast
Ballyhackamore, Belmont and Bloomfield. Terraces and semis on the Glider corridor, popular with families and first-time buyers.
East Belfast guideNorth Belfast
Some of the best-value terraces in the city, with large period houses on the Antrim and Cavehill roads.
North Belfast guideWest Belfast
Affordable homes, former Housing Executive stock and new developments at Lagmore and along the Stewartstown Road.
West Belfast guideCity centre and Titanic Quarter
Almost all apartments, so leases, service charges and cladding paperwork come first.
City centre guideDundonald
Estates and family homes on the city's eastern edge, beside the Ulster Hospital and the Glider park-and-ride.
Dundonald guideCounty Antrim
Lisburn
Commuter city on the M1 with a wide range of new-build developments and established estates. Popular with families and home movers trading up from Belfast.
Lisburn guideNewtownabbey
Glengormley, Whiteabbey, Jordanstown and Mossley. Close to the city and usually cheaper to buy in.
Newtownabbey guideCarrickfergus
Coast, castle and a direct train into Belfast for less than a similar home in North Down.
Carrickfergus guideBallyclare
Fast-growing market town with lots of new-build homes and rural houses around Doagh and Ballynure.
Ballyclare guideAntrim
By Lough Neagh where the M2 meets the M22, close to the airport, with trains to Belfast.
Antrim guideBallymena
The main town of mid Antrim, with village and farm homes all around and trains to Belfast and Derry.
Ballymena guideLarne
Port town at the start of the coast road, with a direct train to Belfast and lower prices than most commuter towns.
Larne guideBallymoney
Market town near the Causeway Coast, with farms and rural homes and prices below the seaside towns.
Ballymoney guideCounty Down: North Down and Ards
Bangor
North Down's largest town, with seafront period houses, 1960s and 70s estates, and a steady flow of first-time buyers and downsizers.
Bangor guideHolywood
Small, expensive and in demand. Period homes and Belfast Lough views, with prices that make the loan-to-value and stamp duty sums matter.
Holywood guideNewtownards
Ards' market town, more affordable than Bangor or Holywood, with newer developments on the edges and rural sites out the Peninsula.
Newtownards guideComber
Popular market town at the top of Strangford Lough, with new developments and lough-shore homes.
Comber guideDonaghadee
Harbour town on the Ards coast, popular with families, commuters and people downsizing to the sea.
Donaghadee guideCarryduff
Family town on Belfast's southern edge, with new developments and prices to match its closeness to the city.
Carryduff guideCounty Down: mid and south Down
Downpatrick
The county town of Down. Period town houses, rural homes and farms, and coastal villages across Lecale.
Downpatrick guideBanbridge
A1 commuter town between Belfast and Newry, with plenty of new-build homes and buyers working across the border.
Banbridge guideBallynahinch
Market town in the middle of the county, between Belfast and the Mournes, with steady new building.
Ballynahinch guideNewcastle
Under the Mournes by the sea. Holiday homes, second homes and retirement buyers push prices up.
Newcastle guideNewry
Border city on the Belfast to Dublin corridor, where many buyers earn some of their income in euros.
Newry guideWarrenpoint and Rostrevor
Victorian seafront towns on Carlingford Lough, close to Newry and the border.
Warrenpoint guideKilkeel and Mourne
Home to Northern Ireland's biggest fishing fleet, with farms and self-employed buyers all around.
Kilkeel guideCounty Armagh
Armagh
A small city of Georgian streets and two cathedrals, surrounded by orchard country.
Armagh guidePortadown
Craigavon town on the Bann with a station on the Belfast to Dublin line and prices well below Belfast.
Portadown guideLurgan
Affordable commuter town at the Lough Neagh end of Craigavon, with trains to Belfast.
Lurgan guideCounty Londonderry
Derry/Londonderry
Northern Ireland's second city, on the Foyle beside the Donegal border, with prices well below Belfast.
Derry/Londonderry guideColeraine and the Causeway Coast
Coleraine, Portstewart and Portrush: family homes, student lets and holiday homes by the sea.
Coleraine guideLimavady
Roe Valley town between Derry and Coleraine, with farms, one-off houses and lower prices.
Limavady guideMagherafelt
Busy Mid Ulster town full of self-employed buyers, self-build sites and new developments.
Magherafelt guideCounty Tyrone and County Fermanagh
Omagh
Tyrone's county town, serving a wide rural area of farms, one-off houses and self-build sites.
Omagh guideDungannon
Affordable town at the end of the M1, close to the big manufacturing and food employers of east Tyrone.
Dungannon guideCookstown
Mid Ulster market town with a long main street, family businesses and rural sites near the Sperrins.
Cookstown guideStrabane
Border town opposite Lifford, with some of the lowest prices in Northern Ireland.
Strabane guideEnniskillen
Fermanagh's island town between the two Lough Ernes, with lakeside homes, holiday lets and cross-border buyers.
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