Following a period of rapid growth, the property market in Belfast is starting to cool down, local agents have reported.

According to the Belfast-based surveyors and property agents Patterson Miller, the residential market and, in particular, the buy-to-let sector, had become "over-valued", leading to prospective first-time buyers being almost completely forced out.

While the higher end of the market remains strong, with the firm reporting £1 million apartments starting to be sold in the city and with the over £750,000 end of the market as healthy as ever, the lower end has seen prices ease off, partly as a result of buy-to-let investors being deterred by rising interest rates.

Gary Vaughan, a partner at Patterson Miller, said: "I think what we're seeing is the market returning back to the way that it was, let's say, two and a half years ago, which is probably a far more sensible market."

According to the latest figures from the Halifax, house prices in Northern Ireland are the fastest growing in the UK, with the town of Newtownards having experienced a year-on-year growth of 64 per cent.