Ards District Housing Plan 2013 - Northern Ireland Housing Executive

• Fuel poverty;
• Low but rising unfitness levels;
• The need for additional social housing in some locations.
According to Census 2011, the housing stock in Ards Borough comprises 31,514
households with ‘usual residents’; tenure breakdown is as follows:
• Owner occupation is the most
popular tenure in the borough
and, at 74%, is higher than the
Northern Ireland figure of 67.5%;
• The private rented sector houses
10.7% of households (Northern
Ireland 15%). Lending restrictions
limiting access to owner
occupation have contributed to
the growth of this sector;
• The proportion of social housing
in the borough (13%) is lower than the Northern Ireland figure of 14.9%.
DSD’s Northern Ireland Housing Bulletin
reported 150 private sector new build
housing starts in Ards Borough during the
year to September 2012, a decrease of
10.2% from last year. It is evident the
construction industry in the borough is
still suffering, with starts 74.3% lower than
at the height of the housing market in
2007.
The University of Ulster’s Quarterly House
Price Index records the 2012 average
house price in Ards Borough as £143,596, a decrease of 6.9% on the previous year.
This is marginally above the Northern Ireland average of £138,147 which fell 1.2%
from last year (see Table 2). Last year, estate agents commented that house prices
in Ards had further to fall, being slower to react to the ‘boom & bust’ of the housing
market. This year, with prices now close to the Northern Ireland average, it would
appear that adjustment has taken place.
Local estate agents report the following:
• The housing market in Ards Borough has been slow to recover from the post 2007
decline. In the last year, despite further house price decline, the volume of
transactions has not increased significantly;
• Due to restrictions in lending and a lack of confidence in the housing market,
there remain a high number of unsold properties in the borough;
• The majority of house sales are to first time buyers or buy-to-let investors
purchasing properties at the lower end of the market, including repossessions;
• Typically first time buyers have saved substantial deposits;
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