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Belfast · report

New homes in Belfast

9.6% fewer homes were started in the last 12 months than in an average year of the past decade.

Started, 12 months
629
Per 1,000 residents
1.8

Homes started in Belfast

Homes started over the previous 12 months, at each quarter.

  • Belfast
  • Ten-year average
Show the numbers
PeriodBelfast
Jun 2026629
Mar 2026698
Dec 2025692
Sep 2025723
Jun 2025561
Mar 2025548
Dec 2024834
Sep 20241,206
Jun 20241,089
Mar 20241,122
Dec 2023833
Sep 2023500
Jun 2023494
Mar 2023632
Dec 2022566
Sep 2022511
Jun 2022550
Mar 2022425
Dec 2021460
Sep 2021629
Jun 2021707
Mar 2021713
Dec 2020797
Sep 2020747
Jun 2020792
Mar 2020830
Dec 2019745
Sep 2019744
Jun 2019734
Mar 2019788
Dec 2018781
Sep 2018666
Jun 2018570
Mar 2018555
Dec 2017541
Sep 2017645
Jun 2017734
Mar 2017677
Dec 2016726
Sep 2016648
Jun 2016564
Mar 2016537

A start is the first count of a new home in the UK: no nation counts homes granted planning permission. Most starts are finished one to two years later. England's and Wales's counts come from building control, which misses some homes; Scotland counts housing association approvals as starts; Northern Ireland's begin in 2015.

Other reports for Belfast

Affordability

Figures for Northern Ireland: Belfast has no reliable figures of its own.

At the average sale price, a home costs £184,768. With 10% down and a 30-year mortgage, the payment is £852 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
14%
Payment, one income
28%

Buy or rent

Figures for United Kingdom: Belfast 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

Foreign buyers

Figures for United Kingdom: Belfast 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%

Past cycles

Sale prices have fallen by 3% or more once since 2005. That fall began in Q3 2007.

Deepest fall
−58.9%
Recovery from the low
Not yet

People and new homes

In 2025 the population fell by 649 while 553 homes were finished.

Homes finished, 2025
553
Population change, 2025
−649

Empty homes

6.8% of the 160,154 homes counted in the 2021 census had nobody usually living in them.

Empty, 2021 census
6.8%
Empty homes
10,946