A SCHEME to help first-time buyers could be extended to those seeking to move up the property ladder, the Housing Minister has said, after new figures revealed Jersey’s housing market will not meet the need of Islanders over the next three years.
Deputy Malcolm Ferey was responding to a Statistics Jersey report, published yesterday, that found there is set to be a surplus of family homes and not enough one- and two-bedroom properties amid a trend of declining birthrates and reduced demand for larger houses.
He said: “My focus primarily is on getting first-time buyers into the market and allowing people who have made that first purchase to move up the housing ladder into a second-time-buyer situation.
“The previous Jersey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey found there are people who want to move into the next part of the market but because of the market conditions in the last few years they have found themselves not in a favourable position to do so.”
The Statistics Jersey report into projected housing needs between 2026 and 2028 found there will be a 1,500 shortfall in one- and two-bed properties, at the same time as a 1,200 surplus in larger three- and four-bed homes.
Deputy Ferey added: “What I would like to see happen is an extension of the First Step Scheme to encourage people to take the next step and buy a family home. Those are in very early discussions that we are having with the Council of Ministers.
“Of course, it would cost lots of money for this type of initiative so it would need to be under careful consideration and balanced against all the other competing demands.”
The First Step Scheme – which was a result of £10 million of government funding – provided for equity loans of up to 40% towards the property purchase.
Explaining how it could work, the minister said: “At the moment we have a kind of shared-equity scheme. What I would like to see is the scheme extended into the second-time buyer market.
“And that would give people the ability to put their mortgage into a bigger property. In simple terms, it would make the purchase price for them more within their reach.
“In effect the government has an equity stake in their property and that is payable back in the future, and obviously, if the residual value of the property increases that equity stake increases by the same amount.
“So ultimately, if the homeowner benefits, then the government benefits.”
