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WQ.174/2019
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR TREASURY AND RESOURCES BY DEPUTY M.R. HIGGINS OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 26th MARCH 2019
Question
Further to the answer given to Written Question 112/2019 on 26th February 2019, will the Minister, as shareholder representative, request the States of Jersey Development Company to provide the States with details of all buy-to-let purchases of properties in all of its residential property developments since it was incorporated, including how many of the sales have gone to buy-to-let purchasers and how many to off- Island individuals or company investors and how many to individuals and companies from in the Island, as well as whether the purchases were off-plan or following completion?
Answer
To date, the States of Jersey Development Company has completed or is carrying out two residential developments - College Gardens and Horizon.
The latest position on each of these residential developments, as provided by the Company is:-
College Gardens
College Gardens comprises 187 apartments all of which were sold off-plan prior to physical completion. 40 units were pre-sold to the Jersey Homes Trust for social rented housing.
A further 40 units were pre-sold as Shared Equity through the Housing Gateway scheme to eligible first- time buyers.
The remaining 107 units were sold on the open market.
Excluding the Jersey Homes Trust units, the breakdown is as follows:
Owner occupier = 104 units Buy-to-let = 43 units
Of the 43 buy-to-let sales, 3 units were purchased via local companies whose beneficial owners were on- island. No units were sold to off-island individuals or off-island companies or local companies whose beneficial owner was off-island. 40 units were sold to on-island individuals for buy-to-let purposes.
Horizon
Horizon comprises 280 apartments and, as of 19 March 2019, 170 units have been sold off-plan.
Owner occupier = 70 units Buy-to-let = 100 units
Of the 100 buy-to-let off-plan sales, 12 units have been purchased via local companies whose beneficial owners are on-island. Four units have been purchased by off-island individuals. 84 units were sold to on- island individuals for buy-to-let purposes.
Additional note:
One of the primary risk mitigation measures contained in: P.73/2010 that established the States of Jersey Development Company and in the MoU between the Company and its Shareholder (the Minister for Treasury and Resources) is to secure a sufficient level of legally binding pre-sales to fund the costs of constructing the first phase of a scheme. In relation to residential development this means the Company has to pre-sell a significant proportion of units off-plan in advance of committing to the construction costs.