REPORTS of property prices booming down the King’s Road and other parts of Chelsea have become commonplace, if still endlessly beguiling. The similarly appreciating state of the market down the Malone Road, Belfast’s Chelsea, has been less in the news.

This is because most people still associate this city more with decrepit terraces and sectarian murals than the £1 million-plus homes you will find down Malone Road in South Belfast and the upmarket shops in nearby Lisburn Road. Nationwide’s latest regional house price survey, published today, however, spells out the extent of Northern Irish price appreciation. The average house price has risen by 24.9 per cent in the past 12 months; it now stands at £146,367 — higher than average prices in parts of the North East, Scotland and Wales. The average Belfast price is £193,180, up 13 per cent since 2005 and 285 per cent since since 1996, two years before the signing of the Good Friday agreement.

Public infrastructure spending has supported prices, but affordability may be the factor that causes them to slow in the future. As we report on pages 16-17, the average Ulster house price is six times’ the average Ulster salary. Affordability is also becoming a concern elsewhere. This week Yolande Barnes, of Savills, the estate agent, announced that the end of the UK boom is close, as the supply of houses for sale improves, but more and more prospective buyers ponder the wisdom of taking on the oversized mortgage commitments necessary to become owners of these properties.

But Ms Barnes believes that most buyers are finding their debts manageable, so she does not predict a slump, but continued modest growth in most markets. Tomorrow another major estate agent, Knight Frank, will also forecast a slowdown in the prime Central London market of Chelsea and surrounding areas. Prices in these elite neighbourhoods are up nearly 18 per cent since the beginning of the year — progress that has kept us all mightily entertained.

PLANNING PATIENCE
Planning rules please no-one, except perhaps lawyers who make money from the complexity of the regulations, although even they complain about the system’s inconsistencies. Some homeowners would contend that the current system gives developers freedom to build how and where they please, without regard for the value of nearby properties and the general quality of life. Other homeowners are merely aggrieved by the paperwork necessary to gain permission for extensions to their homes.

At the same time, sections of government and businesses are arguing that planning bureaucracy impedes competitiveness and deters multi-nationals from locating in Britain. It is said that planning issues led Pfizer, the US pharmaceuticals group, to establish its European headquarters in Germany, rather than Surrey, its first choice. But, in reality, this was just one factor in the group’s decision.

The Pfizer story began to circulate just before this week’s publication of Kate Barker’s Treasury-commissioned interim review of the state of planning. Miss Barker envisages further reforms, but wants to wait until the impact of recent changes is known. The Treasury is less patient and will announce legislation to streamline the system in the autumn. You do not need to espouse anti-capitalist sentiments to agree with Miss Barker’s wish that the solution “does not advance business interests above environmental and social ones”.

Meanwhile, if you have in mind a project that needs permission, consider waiting. The Householder Developments Consents Review, released on the same day as the Barker Review, indicated that seeking consent for rear extensions, some types of swimming pools and such like, will be quicker to obtain next year.

But the consent of neighbours will remain as tricky to secure as it has always been, as this review says. “Houses become items of intense personal attachment . . . this makes changes an extremely sensitive matter.” On pages 6-7, we discuss the economics of installing a pool, but these do not factor in the time you may need to take to reconcile the people next door to the idea. Whatever changes are made to the planning rules, somebody is bound to be unhappy.

A BIT SNIFFY A pea under a large pile of mattresses caused a sleepless night for the princess in the fairytale. But the sensitivity of the powerful and wealthy is more than just a fable, it seems. The prospective purchasers of country estates employ buying agents to scout out suitable properties. The agents go forth with a list of requirements, which can include no unpleasant odours, please.

Mark Lawson, partner at The Buying Solution, will conduct a smell survey to alert his client to the pong of manure. But the rich are not all that different. In common with buyers of modest means, they are most likely to reject a house because of traffic noise.
anne.ashworth@thetimes.co.uk

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