Transaction round up
The month of June saw healthy increases in transaction volume over the previous month and also the previous year-to-date. Transaction volume was up 139% on the month and up 25.8% on the year, while the average price of properties that sold was US$411,165, which is up by 39% on the month. The average price of property sold for the year to the end of June was US$492,764 which is up by 21.8%. These are all good indicators that this year will see very positive movement all round.
The benefits of Dart’s investment
The Dart Group’s latest and most significant investment in Cayman, which will begin in the third quarter of this year, brings with it wide-ranging benefits to the Cayman Islands, not least of which will be the instigation of modern waste disposal facilities and the capping of the George Town landfill (commonly known as ‘the dump’). The dump has been a terrible eyesore and growing environmental problem for Cayman for a number of years and there has been much discussion as to its solution. Now the issue will finally be addressed and the potential for a green environment being provided for, going forward.
As part of the Dart Group’s agreement with the Cayman Islands Government, they are providing the land site for a new modern, ecologically-sound waste disposal facility in Bodden Town. Note – this will not be another dump, as it is intended that this will utilise the most modern ways of recycling waste disposal. This is issue is so critical to Cayman not just because of its environmental impact on Cayman or the fact that the dump has been such an eye sore; but because it affects our children for generations to come and addressing this in the appropriate manner is the only way to secure the environmentally-conscious island that we currently have.
The first phase of the deal will see Dart close, cap and remediate the George Town Landfill, and part of the resulting land will be converted into a public park, for everyone’s benefit. Landfill capping is a particular type of technology that provides for the containment of the structure, forming a barrier between the contaminated material beneath and the surface, thereby creating a shield between it and people and the environment from the harmful effects of its contents. It is also anticipated that the migration of the dump’s contents will be limited in this way.
The Dart Group’s $200 million investment will begin from the third quarter of this year until 2013 and with it create 500 to 600 hundred jobs directly and several hundred more indirectly, while at the same time generating tens of millions of dollars in Government revenue. This can only be a positive step for the country.
New initiatives for listers
Listers who live in the Islands will no doubt have seen my concerted advertising campaign. An important part of this campaign is the advertising I have had placed on bus shelters, a highly visible way for me to catch the attention of prospective buyers and reaffirm my positioning as the “face” of real estate in the Cayman Islands. In a bid to increase this exposure across the length and breadth of the Cayman Islands, I have contracted to take a further nine more bus shelters, which I anticipate will create more exposure and allow me to draw in more buyers to my inventory. The location of the bus shelters will cross the Island to ensure that Dreamfinders reaches both the local and foreign markets in equal measures.