Share-transfer transactions

WQ.286/2025

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HOUSING BY DEPUTY P.F.C. OZOUF OF ST. SAVIOUR

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 16th JUNE 2025 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 23rd JUNE 2025

Question

"Regarding share-transfer transactions, will the Minister –

1. detail  the  statistical  sources  and  methodologies  by  which  share-transfer  transactions  are monitored;
2. advise whether current data permits an authoritative annual total of share-transfer sales and whether summary data will be published or tabled and, if not, why not;
3. provide, if available, annual share-transfer figures by volume and value (and any segmentation by purchaser status such as local or non-local purchasers) for the past five years;
4. explain how the share-transfer market is factored into housing policy, particularly in relation to affordable-housing initiatives and monitoring supply; and
5. advise whether the Strategic Housing Unit has considered, or is considering, requiring public registration of share-transfer transactions (whether via the Royal Court, a new registry or another mechanism)  to  ensure  comprehensive  oversight  is  accessible  to  elected  Members  and stakeholders?"

Answer

1. Share transfer transactions do not pass through the Royal Court and therefore we do not hold a comprehensive record of share transfer transactions in the Public Registry. Reliable data is obtained through receipts arising from the Taxation (Land Transactions) (Jersey) Law 2009.

Share-transfer Land Transaction Tax (LTT) income is monitored by the Minister for Treasury and Resources. Statistics Jersey make use of this data source to enable reporting as part of the House Price Index.

2. LTT data belongs to the Minister for Treasury and Resources. Total LTT income is published annually in the Budget (Government Plan). Total transactions are included within the House Price Index.
3. Annual share transfer transactions by volume and value are not routinely published by the Minister for Treasury and Resources. This has been shared by the Minister, upon request, as below:

Data is provided with regards to any transfer of ownership; this includes transfers of property from sole name into joint, and vice versa, and following the devolution of an estate. Data regarding non-local purchasers is only available from May 2022. Prior to this, purchaser address data is not held in a centralised form. Purchaser addresses only relate to the time of transaction and do not indicate whether a purchaser intends to occupy the property.

4. The impact of the share transfer market was taken into account in the development of the Creating Better Homes Action Plan (2021), which ended the creation of new share-transfer properties in Jersey with the aim to help Islanders own their own homes. This means no new share transfer supply is being created and flats are structured instead as Flying Freehold. It would be particularly challenging to implement any retrospective policy action upon the share transfer properties that remain, and this is not currently under consideration. As with all parts of the housing market, should any new or specific problems become apparent, a policy response may be considered at that time.
5. The Strategic Housing and Regeneration Team are not currently tasked with considering a requirement to register share transfer property transactions. This has, however, previously been considered in response to P.82/2020 & P.93/2020. A report was published in response to these propositions, but the findings remained without endorsement by the-then Chief Minister as set out in the Reports page at gov.je: Feasibility Study on property registers. No further work has been undertaken since this publication.