A politician is calling for a full public audit of Jersey’s first-time-buyer and affordable homes, warning that decades of restrictions may have created an “oversupply” in the housing market.

Deputy Alex Curtis is demanding that the Housing Minister compiles and publishes a comprehensive register of all developments subject to first-time-buyer or affordable ownership restrictions by September 2026.

It comes amid mounting concern that thousands of restricted homes – potentially between 1,820 and 2,274 built since 1987 – are now distorting the market, with some properties reportedly struggling to sell.

Deputy Curtis explained: “This proposition comes from anecdotal evidence that the large number of restricted properties, and the time since many of these were developed, has led to an oversupply in the market that is meaning homes are not able to be sold to owner-occupiers.

“This problem, which members will no doubt have discussed with islanders, is likely to
be further influenced by the oncoming surge of new developments which offer ‘shared
equity’ homes.

“These homes are available to purchasers at a reduced price compared to market-price properties and will now compete with the existing stock of restricted yet full-equity homes.”

Deputy Curtis warns there is currently “no comprehensive list of sites with affordable housing or first-time-buyer restrictions,” despite restrictions having been applied “over many decades through various planning decisions and legal agreements”.

He also wants ministers to spell out the legal mechanism behind each restriction – and the conditions under which they can be changed or removed.

Deputy Curtis also wants options brought forward to modify ownership restrictions on existing developments, including an assessment of the impact on housing supply.

Since the 1987 Island Plan, successive plans have delivered waves of Category A, first-time-buyer and affordable-purchase homes.

More recent schemes under the 2022 Bridging Island Plan require homes to be sold at no more than 70% of market value, with a permanent 30% charge secured on the property.

But older first-time-buyer homes often have no such deferred charge. According to Deputy Curtis, this means “the affordability benefit was delivered once, to the original purchaser, and has not been recycled to subsequent buyers as policy intended”.

Deputy Curtis argued that before widening eligibility or changing policy, States Members and the public must understand the true scale of the issue.

“Before we change policies and widen criteria, it is essential that States Members and the
public have the full facts about the scale of this subset of the property market, and since
the department suggests this work is ongoing, it is important to secure a commitment
and a timeline to deliver this to the public,” he said.