Apartment prices in Northern Ireland have plummeted by more than £10,000 sterling (€16,053) in the past year, according to a survey on house prices by the University of Ulster. The Quarterly House Price Index shows that, while house prices continue to rise in the North, the rate at which they are rising has slowed considerably.

According to the University of Ulster's centre for research on property and planning, which compiles the house price index, the only sector of the housing market to reflect a fall in prices is apartments. Property experts believe the slump in prices could hurt speculative investors, particularly those from the Republic, who were among the first rush of buyers on many of the early apartment developments.

Many estate agents are now privately warning that the apartment market, chiefly in Belfast, is over-supplied and in some instances over-priced.

The authors of the new Price Index report, which is carried out in conjunction with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, believe the lower rate of price increase in the housing sector is highly significant. The average price of a home in Northern Ireland now stands at £86,846. Residential property prices have increased in value by 6.01 per cent over the past 12 months, compared to an 11.47 per cent rise in the previous year. The latest survey shows that the average apartment now costs £83,089, a fall of 11.02 per cent over the past 12 months.