Escalating house prices is not a problem that stops at the Border. In Co Fermanagh, the price of an average starter home has doubled over the past five years, leaving many younger buyers on the verge of being pushed out of the market.
The county's beautiful lakeland scenery has attracted holiday-home buyers and some properties with a lake frontage are fetching in the region of £250,000. An estate agent in Enniskillen, Mr Adrian McElroy, said a lake frontage could add up to £100,000 to the cost of a property. New lough-shore apartments in Enniskillen have sold for up to £200,000.
When sites with views of the water become available they are snapped up and some have sold recently for £150,000. Buyers at this end of the market are mainly from outside the area. While most are from Belfast, a number of southerners have also invested in Fermanagh.
Mr McElroy said while starter homes in Enniskillen cost in the region of £70,000, which does not seem expensive when compared with the South, the same houses were selling for about £35,000 five years ago.
While he was sure first-time buyers were having problems affording this, they were helped by interest rates of between 7 and 8 per cent compared to 12 per cent five years ago. Stricter controls on building in rural areas has meant a greater demand for town houses.
Mr Michael Leslie, of Gordon Robinson Property Sales, said it was now felt the market had reached a peak after increasing for five years and would soon begin levelling off.
Unlike the east coast of the Republic, the Fermanagh economy could not be described as buoyant, with agriculture suffering badly and no major increase in employment in recent years. The local economy is also badly affected by the huge pound/sterling differential.
The most recent quarterly house price index put the average price of a home in Fermanagh at £67,725, making it one of the most expensive areas in the North outside Belfast. The average price over the six counties is £75,558 compared to £63,361 two years ago.