Nearly 30% of household income spent on housing

People in Guernsey spend an average of nearly a third of their income on housing, according to States' figures.

The Better Life Indicator report shows the average household has a post-tax income of £30,960, with 30.5% of that being spent on housing.

According to the States, this figure would rank Guernsey above the majority of developed countries in terms of cost of housing.

Environment and Infrastructure President, Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez, said she was "not at all surprised" by the results and that work was being done to improve housing costs.

The report compared data to Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) member countries.

"We have always scored as relatively very expensive compared to other jurisdictions and that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone," said de Sausmarez.

"We've been hopping up and down trying to make this exact point.

"All our data that we've put together in the Guernsey housing plan, shows that systemically we have got an unaffordable housing market.

"We are in a market which is by definition, systemically unaffordable and that's why we are putting in so much effort to tackling the problem."

She added: "It is not just about housing supply, there are an awful lot of areas which need support and intervention to make them work better.

"We are now working toward a strategic direction, that's all pulled together in the form of the Guernsey Housing Plan."

The percentage of income spent on housing is just one of 24 measures looked at in the report.

The island fares better in many other areas when compared with the list of OECD countries - scoring highly for average household income, life expectancy and its low homicide rate.

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