HOUSE prices in Jersey saw their biggest annual fall last year “on record”.
The 8% drop – the largest since at least 1986 – between 2023 and 2024 was revealed in the latest House Price Index released yesterday by Statistics Jersey.
The average price of a house was £589,000 last year compared to £636,000 in 2023 – a reduction of over £40,000.
All property types, from one-bedroom flats to four-bedroom homes, saw reductions, while private rental prices were 1% lower compared to the year before.
Turnover in Jersey’s housing market was also at its lowest for over two decades.
Property turnover overall was 16% lower than the previous year – driven by a huge drop in the sale of flats (42%). It is the lowest level of turnover since at least 2002.
And overall housing affordability improved, which Statistics Jersey said was due to an increase in household income – based on an overall increase in average earnings of 6.4% – and the decrease in overall property prices.
However, local mortgage consultant Peter Seymour recently told the JEP that uncertainty remained over whether lenders “on both sides of the Channel” would drop interest rates, despite the Bank of England lowering its base rate from 4.75% to 4.5% this month, its lowest level since June 2023.
Statistics Jersey said a “significant” number of property transactions (39%) took place in 2023 due to new developments, while in 2024 this was only 9%.
Excluding new builds, Statistics Jersey said the level of turnover would have actually been 25% higher rather than 16% lower.
Statistics Jersey highlighted that the First Step Scheme – an assisted-purchase scheme to help Islanders into home ownership – saw 33 properties sold in the third and final quarter of 2024 and assisted indirectly with the sale of a further nine properties.
“2024 saw the largest decrease in the Jersey HPI on record,” according to Statistics Jersey.
“Property prices in Jersey have seen four periods of strong growth during the last four decades, with peaks in the annual rate of increase occurring in 1989, 1998, 2008, and 2021; each of these years recorded annual price increases of 16% or higher,” the organisation observed.
