The average price for all property types increased by three per cent last year and the cost of a three-bed house rose nearly £20,000 to £502,000 – passing the half million pound mark for the first time in three years.
- One-bedroom flat: £211,000
- Two-bedroom flat: £341,000
- Two-bedroom house: £405,000
- Three-bedroom house: £502,000
- Four-bedroom house: £694,000[/breakout]
The figures, which were announced at a briefing at Cyril Le Marquand House yesterday, also showed that there had been a significant increase in the number of sales.
Last year there was a 15 per cent increase in house sales on the previous year, with 1,171 sales passing through the Royal Court last year, compared to 1,019 in 2013.
Of those sales, 414 were three-bedroom houses, representing a 21 per cent increase.
Estate agents who attended the briefing on Wednesday were generally buoyant about the market’s outlook for 2015.
John Quemard, the joint president of the Jersey Estate Agents’ Association, said: ‘It’s looking good for the year ahead. I think there’s an element of still being cautious, but it’s good to see there is a three per cent increase on last year.
‘I think the bigger picture is that customers want value for money and that they are looking for quality properties,’ he said.
John Crespel, of Crespel Properties, was also optimistic.
‘There’s certainly been increased confidence in the market place and definitely increased activity and sales. The market place is improving, there’s no question about that, and it’s still a very affordable time for people to purchase if they have the funds available to do so. The interest rate is historically low and house prices are equally low in real terms compared to where we were five or so years ago,’ he said.
However, Mr Crespel said that Islanders who are looking to sell their properties must not get carried away by the price growth.
‘Priced realistically property will sell. If the expectations are too great it will remain on the market, as it has, for weeks and months. The old stock that hasn’t been re-priced is just going to continue to sit there.’
Bradley Vowden, partner at Gaudin and Co Estate Agents, said that he was hoping for stability in the market instead of rapid growth.
‘We have to be mindful that what is translated to the man on the street isn’t that we are out of the recession and certainly that we are not on a huge upward curve. I would like to see some stability and then I think we can have a more sustainable rate of sale rather than peaks and troughs, as we have had in the past.’
RISING property prices are a mixed blessing. New figures published today reveal that the cost of the average family home is now £502,000, almost as high as the peak five years ago when open viewings became bidding wars.
Estate agents also report an upturn in activity and say confidence is returning. This is yet another indication that the Island’s economy is starting to recover.
But who really profits from a rising housing market?
The rate of home ownership is lower in Jersey than the UK. This is an affluent Island, but the dream of buying a property is out of reach even for many households with a relatively high dual income.
Today’s front-page news reinforces the message that more needs to be done to bring affordable homes to the market.
That does not mean concreting over the countryside, but finding imaginative solutions in and around St Helier to create accommodation which reflects modern lifestyles and promotes community – places where people want to live.
St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft is right to call for town not to become over developed, but the decision is not between rural building and ruining St Helier.
But if a new vision for St Helier, which is shared by many forward-thinking professionals in the Planning department, is to win public support, ministers must say no to gigantic mansions in the countryside which appear to ride roughshod over rules that seem to apply to all but the very rich.
