The average cost of buying a house in Guernsey is creeping ever closer to £600,000 again.
The mix adjusted average purchase price for Local Market properties during the second
quarter of 2025 was £596,573.
That price is based on 195 Local Market sales between April and June this year.
It represents an upturn in fortune for estate agents and people selling houses, as the average property price had decreased slightly last year after the post-covid property boom.
Property purchase prices hit a post-pandemic peak of £648,000 in 2023. The average had dropped below the £600,000 mark by spring 2024 before rising again later in the year.
Now, the average price sits just below the £600,000 mark – 29.7% higher than the average price was five years ago.
Nick Paluch, Director in the Residential Sales Team at Savills Guernsey, said the increase is partly down to lower interest rates available to people wanting to move house.
“The markets have been a little up and down of late but there’s certainly signs of resilience, with a slight increase in transaction volumes,” he said.
“Prices in the Local Market appear to have recovered from the start of the year and lower interest rates have helped generate more activity. It is worth noting however that the price increase is still less than RPI, but it is at least a positive step.”
Data collated by the States, from estate agents and other bodies, suggests it is currently taking around eight months to sell a house – with vendors accepting 7.3% below the asking price on average.
With a well documented lack of new build properties available, just 3.1% of properties sold this spring were less than a year old.
The Open Market has “not been as busy” as estate agents had expected, warned Mr Paluch.
But he thinks that could change over the coming months.
There were 12 Open Market property transactions between April and June this year with a raw median price (realty only) of £1,569,750.
That’s down from £1.8m last year and only ever so slightly up on the 2020 median price of £1.5m.
“The Open Market has perhaps not been as busy as we would have expected – particularly in light of changes to inheritance and capital gains tax in the UK,” said Mr Paluch.
“The Autumn Budget will be important in determining how the rest of the year pans out. Future cuts to interest rates and possibilities of relaxed mortgage criteria should ease some concerns and market sentiment could well look more promising – but fears about US trading policy and global conflicts also have the potential to knock confidence.
“Consequently, both the Local and Open Markets are likely to be finely balanced as we head into September and beyond. Sensible pricing will remain crucial for securing a sale, while a degree of compromise will also be needed from both buyers and sellers.”