End-of-year figures showed there were a total of 126 conveyances in December, including boundary line changes, bringing the total transactions for the year to 1,478.
This was 319 more than 2024 at a total cost of £811.9m., almost £160m. more than the previous year.
However, the average price of a local market house fell by 3% to £639,795, while the average open market price fell by 12.2% to £1.625m.
Swoffers director Andre Austin said the estate agency had its most successful year ever in 2025, and the year had been one of steady growth.
‘The market peaked in mid-2022 and it was always going to cool,’ he said.
‘We had that unprecedented rise over a short period – nothing had really happened dramatically in the 10 years beforehand. The market’s still price-sensitive, and I think that’s what a normal market post-Covid looks like.’
Sales for 2025 included 678 local market houses and 170 local market properties. The number of transactions was very average, coming in 12th over the period since 2000, according to ABC Conveyances, who prepared the figures.
In total sales this was the third highest year on record by value, below only the record-breaking post-Covid years of 2021 and 2022, where sales peaked at £856m. and £966m. respectively.
However, the year ranked only 12th in terms of number of sales – by comparison 2021 saw 1,753 property transactions, with the record year still being 2007, when 1,849 properties changed hands.
After a buoyant November, December sales remained strong. With 69 local market sales going through it was the second-busiest December on record, behind 97 in 2020.
‘It was still busy even in the week that we closed for Christmas, with three or four sales,’ Mr Austin said.
‘I remember going into December wondering when it was going to slow down, but it just carried on through. We have already had two local market sales go through since we returned.’
He added that he was not concerned over the drop in the average open market property value, as this was traditionally volatile due to the low volume of sales.
There were 91 open market transactions in 2025, and more than a third of them were bought by people new to the island. Mr Austin said that the island’s reputation as a safe place to live had been mentioned by more than one prospective house buyer.
‘People have different motivations when they come here,’ he said.
‘But anecdotally safety has been a thing that’s been highlighted by a lot of people moving over. People still feel comfortable leaving their cars and houses, and for families that can be very attractive.’
Mr Austin said, based on the last few months, he was cautiously optimistic for 2026.
‘There has just been an interest rate drop, and there could be more to come with that, so confidence is high,’ he said.
‘We’re going into this year with certainly the highest number of sales we’re carrying into a year, and we’re hopeful that it will be business as usual in terms of what happened last year. There’s always challenges with stock in some areas, but I’m looking forward to seeing what happens in the first quarter.’
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