House prices 'still rising' say figures

GUERNSEY house prices are still rising, according to figures released by the Policy Council yesterday.

The average cost of a local market house between July and September was £351,500 - up 1.9%, an annual increase of 15.6%.

That may be bucking the downward trend seen in the UK, but quarterly sales are down 33% on this time last year and open market sales have fallen by more than 50%.

'Sales are substantially down on last year - and that was not an exceptional year,' said Martel Maides director Keith Enevoldsen, who was surprised by the figures. All the indications around at the moment are that house prices are not increasing,' he said.

Mr Enevoldsen (pictured) said one of the problems with statistics such as these was that it took, on average, 10 weeks to complete a sale and that skewed current figures.

The third quarter saw 180 local and 11 open market sales, compared with 269 and 23 respectively in the same period last year.

For the first time Guernsey house prices are higher than the average in London, which stands at £325,132.