Housing market activity rose in the second quarter of year

The three-month period saw 246 local market houses and flats sold, compared to 208 in the first quarter of the year, and this was the first rise in the total number of quarterly transactions seen since the second quarter of 2021.

June was the busiest month for house sales so far this year, with 82 going through the Royal Court.

The first half of the year has seen 454 sales, which is slightly down on the same period last year, but more than any other half-year since before the global financial crisis, when 560 sales were recorded in 2007.

But the prices keep going up.

The median price of the 335 houses sold in the year to date is currently £658,125, up 18% on the figure from June 2021.

The median price of local market flats is now £341,250, up from the £292,500 from last year, a rise of 16%.

Median prices compared with Q1 have risen between 3 and 4%.

‘While activity has generally slowed since the spikes we saw in the latter part of last year and indeed in the second half of 2020, it is encouraging to see that levels are more than holding their own when compared to pre-Covid years,’ said Jason Morgan, head of the property group at law firm Carey Olsen in Guernsey.

‘Having said that, it will continue to be an interesting market to watch with so many recently completed transactions likely to negatively impact the number of properties available to purchase.’

The figures, compiled by Unusualities of Guernsey, the independent compiler of local conveyancing statistics, also reveal that there were 18 open market sales during the second quarter, taking the market to 46 sales in the first half of the year. Last year that figure was 57.Open market house sale values have risen some 6% year-on-year.

The housing crisis explored, page 18