Caribbean Real Estate Market Is Riding The High Tide

• Published date: 14 July 2023
• Subject Matter: Real Estate and Construction, Real Estate
• Law Firm: Invest Turks And Caicos
• Author: Mr Invest Turks And Caicos

During Covid-19 lockdowns, high-net-worth buyers flocked to the serene islands in the Caribbean that see more than 300 days of sunshine a year - but even as the pandemic ebbs, the buying spree hasn't.

The Turks and Caicos islands have rapidly transformed from a being relatively unknown destination to a world-renowned luxury tourism hotspot, marked by a fast-growing luxury real estate market. (Photo courtesy of Invest Turks and Caicos)

The Caribbean real estate market is riding a high following a pandemic-induced buying spree that saw people turning to its sun and sandy beaches to escape Covid-19 lockdowns.

The islands see more than 300 days of sunshine each year; pristine beaches and warm water, coupled with the quiet of island life, have led many high-net-worth investors to buy property on the islands to live in, use as a vacation home or rent out to tourists.

The Caribbean hospitality financing survey 2022 found that 56% of non-banks (80% banks) believe the current real estate boom will last for the next 12 months and another 44% of nonbanks (20% banks) think it will last considerably longer.

Liquidity remains high for many institutions, and they are turning to real estate as the best place to invest that cash.

"All our banking respondents expect it to be invested in real estate rather than in stock markets or held as cash and 75% of non-banks feel the same way," the survey found.

The market looks steady, with no respondents saying they thought it was a bubble likely to burst.

Within the Caribbean nations, banks are divided on where to invest, showing equal appetite across the 15 nations in the survey. However, for non-banks, one stood out: the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In the Turks and Caicos, the islands have seen sales increase to more than 324 transactions this year up to August, accounting for more than $335m in sales volume, according to real estate company The Agency. Demand for Turks and Caicos real estate remained higher than pre-pandemic levels, with a 71% increase in first-through-third quarter 2022 sales compared with the same time period in 2019.

"There has never been a better time to buy property in the Turks and Caicos," says Walter Gardiner, a Turks and Caicos native and director and broker at Christie's International Real Estate.

Sales on the island boomed during Covid-19 as buyers, mainly from the US, flocked to the islands; 85% of real estate owners on the islands are from North America, according to Sotheby's.

Gardiner has worked in...