Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Over the year apartments showed the strongest price growth

House prices in Northern Ireland rose by 5.5% in 2018, official figures have shown.

The figures are from the NI Residential Property Price Index, which analyses almost all sales, including cash deals.

All council districts saw price increases, ranging from 7.7% growth in Belfast to 1.6% in Mid and East Antrim.

A total of 23,687 homes were sold in 2018, however this number will be revised upwards when more sales data become available.

The standardised house price stood at £136,669 in the final quarter of 2018.

The lowest standardised price of £120,699 was in Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon; while the highest, £160,834, was in Lisburn and Castlereagh.

Over the year apartments showed the strongest price growth, up 6.5% to a standardised price of £111,296.

Nisra, the official statistics agency, said the house price index is now 23.2% higher than at the start of 2015 and 22.1% higher than the start of 2005.

However, prices are still far below what they were in the bubble years of 2007 and 2008.