News

Citing seven new multimillion-dollar hotel and tourism projects in the works, Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell told legislators investor confidence is returning to the Cayman Islands.

The Dart group has bought the old Hyatt resort, the nine-hole Britannia Golf Course and the Beach Suites hotel, which will close following the sale. The historic Hyatt hotel, once an icon of Caymans tourism industry, has not been redeveloped since sustaining significant damage during Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Sales of condos along Grand Cayman’s Seven Mile Beach up 88% vs last year. New developments in Cayman’s real estate along the Seven Mile Beach corridor include Caribbean Plaza, The WaterColours soon to open, Regent Building. Work moving at a fast pace on the new Kimpton hotel and other Dart projects.

The WaterCplours Seven Mile Beach leads the Cayman Islands luxury property upswing. Having weathered the global economic downturn, unlike other developments in the Caribbean, the WaterColours Grand Cayman seeing property value increases.

Fifteen of the 20 new affordable homes in Bodden Town have been sold or are awaiting bank approval, and the application backlog that has plagued the National Housing Development Trust for more than a year has been eliminated, according to Trust records and board chair George Powell.

Jack Canfield is in a limousine on his way to the Los Angeles airport to catch a flight to Japan when his assistant puts us through. He wants to talk about success, and this seems like a good pulpit to preach from.

The recently released IRR Viewpoint Caribbean Market Update 2016 Annual Report, written by James V. Andrews of Integra Realty Resources Caribbean, highlights some interesting discussion points when it comes to the state of Caribbean economies, especially in relation to real estate.

As recently as October 2015 I wrote how I saw the $2 million plus area of the residential homes market as remaining a difficult one for buyers to sell their properties in the short term. These properties are not moving anywhere near to the degree of other inventory, I wrote. Indeed, only ten homes of $3 million and above had been sold over the past three years. However, I also noted that I felt the market was about to change: Going forward, however, I see this becoming less of an issue. This is because desirable parcels of land are becoming increasingly less available. I went on to say that I believe as a result there will be a shift in the coming months and properties in the $2.5 million region will become a lot more appealing.

The total investments of non-residents in local financial assets was estimated at $119.3 billion by the end of 2014, according to a new report from the Economic and Statistics Office.

Cruise ship passengers still will not be able to gamble within Cayman Islands territorial waters next year, but gambling will be allowed on ships flying the Cayman Islands flag for the first time.