The average house price rose by 6.5% last year.

House price inflation for each quartile of flats and houses over the last five years has been revealed in Tynwald

Last week, Speaker of the House of Keys Juan Watterson asked the Minister for Policy and Reform, Ray Harmer during written answers.

In response, Mr Harmer’s data showed that house valuations began a steady rise in price from mid-2018 to a present day average.

There was a house value of £310,442. This compares with a 2015 average house value of £268,540.

Flats valuations only began to recover from an earlier price drop in 2016, to steadily increase in value from the beginning of 2019 to a present day average flat valuation of £154,213.

This is even slightly below the 2015 average flat value of £160,873.

Mr Harmer stated that it is important to note that the 2020 house and flat values are still provisional at this time.

Possible impacts on the inflation could be due to people moving to the island from further afield due to the pandemic; properties being bought out by property developers in the UK, and large-scale housing projects, such as in Reyart Mie, Ballasalla, being halted due to the impact of Covid-19.

Last June, the sale of 844 houses were lodged with the Central Registry, and the average price for a house was £288,006.

Island-based developer Dandara recently wrote to would-be buyers to inform them that it is returning the £1,000 reservation fee put down for homes due to have been finished after June 30.

Those who had reserved a plot to be completed before that date were given as little as two weeks to pay the 10% deposit, or lose the property.

It’s also been announced that the island could see an influx of residents making home here from Hong Kong later this year, if the pandemic subsides, as British National Overseas passport holders can work here for five years.