Islandman

Yes, I've always been interested in the parallel of the oversupply of flats in Jersey with the same oversupply seen in recent years in the UK property market. The difference I suspect is that there has not yet been the loss of confidence in the UK economic outlook for the time being. There is no doubt in my mind that when the profligate lending by financial institutions is brought to a halt, the downturn in the UK will be quite severe, far reaching and for a protracted period of time too. I would also mention that the Jersey housing market never boomed to the same degree as in the UK and peaked much earlier around 1998. Therefore I feel that the longer term effect on the UK housing market will be much more severe than experienced by Jersey over the last 7 years.

I know Jersey quite well. It's always been different from the UK property market and has been in a downturn for the last 7 years. Two main reasons for this, the first being the severe loss of confidence in the offshore financial services industry and the second being the massive explosion in new flats due to the demolition of a large number of hotels arising from the steady demise of Jersey's tourism industry, which has also had an effect of depressing house prices overall.