Figures don't tell the whole story, say estate agents
OFFICIAL figures that show property prices having fallen by 11% could be misleading, according to some estate agents.
OFFICIAL figures that show property prices having fallen by 11% could be misleading, according to some estate agents.
John Le Tissier (pictured), partner at Alpha Estates, and Spencer Noyon, director at Swoffers, said the information produced by the Policy Council was not a fair representation of the housing market.
Guernsey residential property prices showed the biggest fall in the value of flats and houses sold in the island since these records began 10 years ago.
The average property price stood at £289,250 at the end of March this year, a drop of 15.4% since December, and of 11% from March 2008.
But Mr Le Tissier said that while the statistics were headline-grabbing, he did not believe they had any relevance to the market.
'I do not think you get a fair representation based on these figures,' he said. 'The figures are only the way they are because of the properties on the market at that time. The figures are distorted, based on whether high or low-end properties are sold. I don't think you can read anything into them and I would say they are possibly unhelpful figures.
'But people have common sense and they can see property prices are going up. The whole market looks fairly healthy.'