The recent news that the Cayman Islands have been taken off the European Union’s blacklist of uncooperative countries with regard to tax matters might not be immediately noted as significant for the real estate industry, however the truth is that Cayman’s financial services industry is the most significant driver of Cayman’s economy, underpinning jobs and security for many local residents. The fact that it is so buoyant and active has meant that the country has looked to this industry during the Covid pandemic to keep the economy moving forward when tourism has been shut down. It is therefore imperative that we do all we can to ensure that the industry remains healthy, so ensuring we stay off blacklists such as the EU’s is extremely important.
As a result of a strong financial services industry, the real estate industry is very well supported by those professionals who work within financial services. The industry attracts highly educated people such as lawyers, accountants and bankers as well as service staff. This means it employs a great deal of very well compensated staff who invest in real estate. In fact, if you thought that all high-end properties on island were only purchased by wealthy overseas investors, you would be wrong; that is really not the case at all. There are a significant proportion of sales of such properties that are made by the local residential market.
Little availability of canal lots
Talking of high-end properties, the highly sought-after corridor of Seven Mile Beach has been a section of Cayman real estate that I’ve often talked about; however, I would like to point out that the number of lots on the canal side of the Seven Mile Beach corridor is also dwindling considerably. In fact, the area on which to build residential lots where land is now scarce stretches all the way from West Bay down to South Sound. The land that is available is also becoming much more expensive. I don’t see the price softening, going forward as it’s a simple case of supply and demand: demand is very high which drives up the price of the few remaining land lots. It’s a seller’s market and buyers need to understand this. The situation will continue, so, if you are interested in purchasing a piece of land in this area, I would suggest buying sooner rather than later. If not, you may well see a situation where prices have moved too high for consideration and also that all the nice lots just are not available anymore.