MORE than 5,000 households currently renting could own their own homes over the next decade, according to Housing Minister Terry Le Main.
He said that although his department can do nothing about rampant house price inflation – which has seen prices rise 24 per cent in the last year – there are long-term plans to increase home ownership.
Last year, the Housing Needs Survey reported that 52 per cent of households were owner-occupiers – a figure that the Council of Ministers wants to increase.
That figure is much lower than the UK and Guernsey, partly because of Jersey’s high cost of housing.
Senator Le Main, pictured, who has been responsible for housing as committee president and minister since 1999, said that over the next decade the figure could rise to 67 per cent – an increase of 5,700 households in their own homes.
