17 March 2016
The report published today by the Statistics Unit provides estimates of Jersey's potential housing requirements for the three-year period 2016 to 2018. It gives a detailed picture of supply and demand based on household's intentions in mid-2015.
The information was collected through a set of questions included in the 2015 round of the Jersey Annual Social Survey.
Key findings
Based on the intentions of households (before applying affordability criteria) over the three-year period 2016 to 2018:
- there is a potential shortfall of more than 1,000 homes in the owner-occupier sector and in particular there is a large potential shortfall of 2-bedroom properties in this sector
- the overall supply of social housing is essentially the same as the potential demand
- the previous round of this survey had recorded an overall potential shortfall of social housing, suggesting that demand for social housing has decreased in recent years
- under current migration trends, there is a small overall surplus of registered accommodation
Affordability
Affordability analysis was carried out to assess whether the total income of households planning to buy property was sufficient to buy a flat or house of the size that they had indicated. This showed that:
- applying practical affordability criteria considerably reduces the levels of the potential shortfalls in the owner-occupier sector
- in particular, the large shortfall of 2-bedroom owner-occupier properties is substantially reduced
Download Jersey's Future Housing Needs 2016 to 2018 report (size 469kb)