The quarterly residential property prices bulletin has been released and it makes interesting reading for both the Open and Local Market.
The average Local Market purchase price appears to be levelling out, with a slight fall of 0.6% in average prices (£550,893) compared to the previous quarter. Such was the increase in average house prices over the previous 12 month, this still represents an increase of 11.7% compared to Q4 in 2020.
There is further evidence that the market may be starting to slow down with 30% fewer local market transactions taking place in in Q4 compared to the previous quarter, and 42% less transactions than the same period last year.
Andre Austin (Local Market Director) remarked “In truth we expected there to be a slowdown in transactions, especially year on year. The bounce back from the two periods of restrictions during the pandemic was record breaking and unlikely to be sustainable. House buyers are facing new challenges with recent increases in interest rates and hikes in energy bills, all will undoubtably be a factor for those looking to purchase a new property”
However, Andre is keen to highlight that the market is still buoyant “we are still experiencing extremely high demand for properties and have a number of potential buyers waiting in the wings for the perfect property to come on the market. Figures show that sellers are getting sales much closer to their asking price than previous years and that’s something we have been experiencing with our vendors”.
This point is further backed up by the fact that time between properties appearing on the market and subsequently being sold continues to decrease, meaning buyers are having to be quick if they are to secure their next property.
The Open Market saw a total of 35 properties sold in Q4 for an average price of £1,584,375 which is a significant increase on the previous quarter (14.9%) and resulted in the average medium across the whole of 2021 being 12% higher than that of 2020.
Craig Whitman (Open Market Director) commented that “Guernsey is an increasingly attractive place for buyers looking to relocate to. The unpredictable nature of the last two years has seen a sharp increase in interest from those looking to settle on the island and that trend looks set to continue in the New Year. As an agency we have continued to dominate in this space, with 50% of all Open Market sales being facilitated and executed by Swoffers in 2021”
To read the full bulletin click here
