The mix adjusted average price of properties sold was 3% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the latest Jersey House Price Index.
The index report says that quarterly rise was attributable to increases in the average (mean) prices of one and two bedroom flats and two and four bedroom houses. The average price of three bedroom houses was the lowest recorded since 2007.
The data also shows that the turnover of properties was about a third lower than in the previous quarter and more than two fifths lower than in the same quarter of 2012. The report says that the reduction in turnover was largely driven by fewer share transfer properties being sold. In the first quarter of 2013 share transfers accounted for three fifths of all eligible flat sales. In 2011 and 2012 this proportion had been closer to three quarters of such sales. The number of three bedroom houses which sold in the latest quarter was the lowest for more than four years.
The index also looks at how prices and sales have performed in previous years. In 2008 and 2009, the mean price of one bedroom flats had been essentially stable at around £230,000. A reduction in the mean price of this property type was seen in 2010 and 2011, largely due to the sale of an increased number of lower priced share transfer properties.
Throughout 2012, marginal increases in the mean price of one bedroom flats were recorded on a quarterly basis, taking the annual average in 2012 to £205,000. The latest quarter saw the mean price of one bedroom flats increase for the fourth consecutive quarter to £224,000, the highest recorded for three years.
Following a period of stability throughout 2008 and 2009, when the mean price of two bedroom flats was around £320,000, the latter half of 2010 saw marginal price increases, taking the average price to around £330,000, a level at which it had remained essentially stable apart from an upward fluctuation observed in the second quarter of 2012.
In the first quarter of 2013 the average price of two bedroom flats was almost 6% higher than in the previous quarter but was similar to the annual average for 2012.
The mean price of two bedroom houses had also remained essentially flat throughout 2008 and 2009 at around £400,000. After small increases in mean price towards the end of 2010, the average price of two bedroom houses then decreased over three consecutive quarters, taking the annual average price of this property type to £383,000.
Since the middle of 2011 the mean price of this property type has increased slightly and the mean price of £407,000 recorded in the latest quarter was 4% higher than the annual average for 2012 and 6% higher than that recorded for 2011.
After a period of strong growth from 2006 to early 2008, the mean price of three bedroom houses remained stable throughout the subsequent four year period from 2008 to 2011, at between £510,000 and £520,000. At the end of 2011 the mean price of this property type fell by around 5% to £490,000, a level at which it remained throughout 2012.
In the first quarter of 2013, the mean price of three bedroom houses at £477,000 was the lowest recorded for this property type since the end of 2007.
Although four bedroom houses have seen some volatility in price on a quarterly basis since 2008, for the most part the mean price of this property type has fluctuated around £700,000.
In the first quarter of 2013 the mean price of a four bedroom houses at £702,000 was 3% higher than in the previous quarter but was similar to the average seen over the last four calendar years from 2008 to 2012.
The number of properties sold in the first quarter of 2013 was almost a third, some 32% lower than in the final quarter of 2012 and more than 43% lower than in the corresponding quarter of 2012.
The report says that this decrease in turnover can be largely attributed to a reduction in the number of share transfer flats being sold in the latest quarter. Furthermore, the number of three bedroom houses which sold in the latest quarter was the lowest for more than four years, since the fourth quarter of 2008.
