Friday 14 May 2021
The States of Guernsey has today released its Quarterly Residential Property Prices Bulletin for the period 1st January to 31st March 2021. For the first time this bulletin includes data on private rentals for the latest quarter, which have previously only been published on an annual basis. This move makes information on key aspects of the housing market available more quickly to inform discussions, research and decision-making.
The data shows a year-on-year increase in both the purchase and rental price of local market properties. The mix adjusted average purchase price of properties has increased to £509,906, up 15% since the same time last year. This represents a new peak in house prices in Guernsey although, adjusted for inflation, they are still about 4% lower than the 2013 peak in real terms. The increase in prices reflects a higher-than-average volume of sales over the last four quarters, despite the disruption to sales caused by the lockdowns beginning in March 2020 and January 2021.
The average rental price increased by 10% over the past year. This acceleration in the formerly steady increase in prices is accompanied by a significant reduction in the number of advertised properties.
Deputy Roffey, President of the Committee for Employment & Social Security said,
"We are very conscious that housing is a key issue for many islanders, and it has been evident from the feedback from industry that our housing market is currently subject to an increased level of demand among both renters and buyers. Adding rental prices to the quarterly data set places us in a better position to evidence these pressures.
It is important that we understand what is happening in the housing market if we are to meet people's needs. My Committee, in conjunction with members of the Policy & Resources Committee and the Committee for Environment & Infrastructure, is progressing the Housing Strategy Programme. This is an active programme of work looking at the Island's housing needs, both affordable and private sector housing, and how they could be met. Despite the need to develop strategy and good data we will not allow this to delay the urgent requirement to get on and actually create additional housing stock in the face of what is clearly a significant housing crisis."
Residential Property Price Statistics and all other quarterly and annual publications are available at www.gov.gg/data.
