Property market falls as flat prices tumble

PROPERTY prices have fallen dramatically during the last year.

Figures released by the Policy Council yesterday showed that average sale prices fell by 11% between March 2008 and March this year.

It is the largest decline since 1999 - when the States began using so-called median prices of property to calculate the figures.

A huge drop-off in prices achieved by flats was the biggest contributor to the overall dip.

Apartment prices fell by 17.6% and they made up 40% of the properties sold. House prices remained solid, rising 0.1%.

Policy Council economist Andy Sloan was not surprised by the decrease.

'It seems to be a large number but there was also a negative number of minus 5% in 2005,' he said. 'The small sample sizes used to calculate the Guernsey numbers makes them slightly more vulnerable. But there is no denying that house prices have clearly come off the boil.'

The average cost of a home at the end of March stood at £289,250, a 15.4% decline since the start of 2009.