Jersey House Price statistics are wheeled out on a quarterly basis.

Since I became President of the JEAA I can guarantee that our receptionist will take a call from the media asking for my comment. I did one interview at the commencement of my presidency, and evidently, it was not controversial enough, as it was never broadcast.

It is unarguable that the price of properties in Jersey is high, for the first-time buyer as well as those moving or those who do not qualify in the first-time buyer bracket. There is however affordability, as this is evidenced by the fact that there are buyers for the properties that are being marketed. Further, if a property is priced too high, it will not sell.

It is always difficult to predict house prices, but at the moment there remains a lack of three-bedroom and four-bedroom homes on the market and hence the reason prices increase dramatically. Inflation generally also has an impact on house prices.

In general, after a significant surge in prices, the prices begin to settle and level off. This is likely to be a scenario we see in Jersey. With interest rates rising, this may provide some headwinds to the Jersey residential property market, however this will likely be seen a little further in to the year.

One thing is certain, people will always need a home, and as such there will always be demand for property in Jersey because of the lack of space and the currently, ever increasing population.

It remains difficult for first time buyers, and hopefully, there will be Government led schemes which can assist youngsters on to the property market.

On another matter, we are currently restructuring our Jersey House Prices section and this will be republished shortly.