Following the recent review of the Jersey Residential Property Market the headlines are all about how house prices having increased again throughout 2022.
In response Partner Paul Scally says, “This doesn’t tell the full story. The final quarter showed a decrease of 4% for average prices. It also showed a 40% reduction in the number of transactions passed in Q4 in comparison to Q3”.
The trend on transactions has continued at the start of this year being 60% down. These are big numbers, but they also don’t show the full picture.
Paul continues, “At LGL we have been busy with quote requests this year and think things are picking up. The UK announcing that inflation may have peaked and avoided recession again are positive. It’s also good to hear that the Bank of England may not increase the base rate. We are also hearing that Banks are now looking at their lending criteria to help people borrow. These are all positives”.
The decision by the Government to increase 3% on ‘buy to let property’ has clearly backfired as it has killed that market dead.
Apartments not selling has an impact on the whole as it prevents owners from moving up the ladder. It is a clear example of the Government not understanding the property market and how it works.
Affordability is once again a huge issue as shown in the statistics.
The average first time buyer home is now £638,000, with the stamp duty threshold for first time buyers set at £500,000.
The Government talk about tackling affordability but what is being done?