Northern Ireland is continuing to set the pace as Britain's number one property hotspot with house prices having risen 18% in a year. The latest comprehensive three-month regional house price study by Nationwide Building Society, released today, has confirmed that house prices are soundly beating experts' New Year predictions with the property market enjoying a spring renaissance.

Most analysts predicted that prices would rise by 3% to 5% in 2006, and although they could still fall, early interest in new homes has led the average price to rise by 2.3% in just three months.

And the detailed analysis in Nationwide's report has shown prices are on the up in all UK regions.

After a strong end to 2005, property prices continued to increase in all of the UK's regions with the cost of the average home leaping by £3,000 from January to March to reach £160,319

Nationwide said the strongest growth was in Northern Ireland, where prices rose by 17.6% - more than three-and-a-half times faster than the UK average of 4.9%.

The £129,321 price of the typical house in Northern Ireland has now overtaken those in Scotland and the Northern region – meaning it is no longer the cheapest place in the UK to live.

House prices were most sluggish in the Northern region where they increased just 0.5% over the past year to stand at an average £123,483.

Regional breakdowns showed rapid growth in London, with some areas in the capital recording annual growth of 10%, while the surrounding greater London and Home Counties areas benefited from the surge in interest.

Yorkshire and Humberside and the North West continued to outperform the UK average, with prices rising 5.7% and 5% respectively.

Nationwide said its detailed breakdown of data had revealed the top five UK property hotspots, with Aberdeenshire & Moray leading the way with 18% annual growth.

It was followed by the Isle of Wight (17.4%), St Albans (16.7%), Belfast (15.9%) and north east Northern Ireland (14.9%).

Copyright © 2005 First Mortgage Trust