Jersey's economy buoyed by strong rental market

Friday 29 September 2017

Rental incomes from private households helped drive a 1% growth in Jersey’s economy last year, taking its value up to £4.19billion.

The figures come in the latest report into Jersey’s Economy, which was published today by the government Statistics Unit.

They found that Jersey’s economy, which is measured in Gross Value Added (GVA), was worth around £4.19billion.

While It had grown by around 1% in real terms last year, a rising population had meant that the amount contributed per person fell by 0.3% to £40,200. Jersey residents are still contributing over 50% more than their UK counterparts, however.

Video: What is GVA? The Statistics Unit explains.

Rental incomes from private households were a key driving factor behind the economy’s growth, resulting from an increase in the number of resident households combined with higher rents paid. The island therefore enjoyed a GVA increase of £32million from this sector alone, taking its total value to as much as £617million.

Construction, private sector services and hotels, restaurants and bars enjoyed growth, but the financial services - Jersey’s largest sector - continued with their yearly freefall alongside retail.

Pictured: The construction industry enjoyed strong growth last year.

Public administration recorded the largest decline of all, however, down by as much as 4%.

Agriculture, on the other hand, saw a real-term change of as much as 12%, putting the sector’s GVA income at £51million in 2016, despite volatility in recent years.

The island’s productivity also continued to plummet - a decrease of 2%, linked with the finance sector’s own fall of 3%.

Pictured: Which sectors contributed the most to GVA in 2016? (Statistics Unit)

It follows a long-term trend of declining productivity, which has seen the island’s output fall by more than a fifth since 2007, and the finance industry’s go down by almost a third.