Sales activity in the Northern Ireland housing market during May was 14% up on the same month last year, provisional figures from HMRC suggests.
A total of 2,160 residential property transactions were recorded in the north during the month, marking an acceleration on the 1,830 deals done in April.
The pick-up in activity took the total number of home sales in Northern Ireland for the first five months of 2026 to 9,990.
Although slightly down on the opening five months of 2025, it puts 2026 in reach of pre-pandemic market activity.
The housing market saw a flurry of sales in the opening quarter of last year, ahead of changes to stamp duty in April 2025.
The changes saw the threshold for paying zero stamp duty land tax (SDLT) lowered from £250,000 to £125,000.
It resulted a much weaker second quarter for the Northern Ireland housing market in 2025.
HMRC’s latest home sales tracker reflects a more stabilised market in 2026.
Second quarter home sales in Northern Ireland were 27% up on the April and May total for last year, rising from 3,150 to 3,990 year-on-year.
The latest official data put the average price of a home in the north at £198,015 for the first quarter of 2026, an annual increase of 7.4%.
UK-wide, HMRC said home sales in May rose by 17% on the same month last year to 98,450.
Although up on May 2025, activity was slightly down on April 2026.
Meanwhile, activity in the north’s commercial property market has remained relatively stable in 2026.
Some 320 non-residential property transactions were recorded in May taking the total for the year-to-date to 1,420.
