The recent RICS Cayman Property and Construction Conference had some interesting points for discussion, especially the plans to revitalise the centre of George Town, to which I would like to add my own perspective. I believe that, in order to attract people to live in George Town, you must think about how people live in cities around the world. Even though families who live in cities like London and New York, and smaller ones, most likely have very little in the way of a private garden, they stay there because they have access to great outside amenities within walking distance, such as the water and some great parks. Access to these types of outdoor places is a very important part of a city’s overall design and I hope that Cayman’s designers build these factors into their plans for George Town.
Opinion
New life breathed into Seven Mile Beach… Watch the space!
For some time now I have written about the dwindling inventory available on Cayman’s most prized real estate corridor, that of Seven Mile Beach. I can now report with some excitement that the owners of the Lacovia condominiums – an existing development located about a third of the way up Seven Mile Beach – have unanimously agreed to redevelop their property.
Impact on real estate industry of a public registry
Clearly, the hot topic right now in the Cayman Islands business community is the U.K. government forcing its overseas territories, Cayman included, to provide a public registry of beneficial ownership by 2020. I believe that Great Britain has behaved very poorly in this regard because it has chosen not to include its Crown Dependencies, i.e., Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, in this change of legislation, which shows the agenda is disingenuous and is a redirection of business, effectively doing little more than to cast aspersions on offshore jurisdictions.
Blockchain and Cayman’s real estate industry
While readily admitting that I am not the world’s expert on the subject of Blockchain, I would like to acknowledge that I am starting to see a definite trend towards the employment of this software platform for digital assets within the real estate industry globally and stirrings of interest even within Cayman’s own real estate industry.
Cayman’s strong tourism product highlighted in IRR report
For this month’s update I thought it would be useful to concentrate on analysing some of the findings from the IRR Viewpoint Caribbean Market Update Year End 2016 Report
New brands equal new life for Cayman’s real estate industry
Whether it’s the four-star Kimpton, the four-star Margaritaville or possibly even the five-star Four Seasons brand, new brands launching in the Cayman Islands entering our marketplace are all very good news for Cayman’s real estate industry.
PR fiasco could harm real estate environment
We have some important topics to deal with in this country in the coming months, and if we don’t approach them correctly, I fear that Cayman might be heading towards a dangerous environment, and when it comes, the real estate industry, which has shown pleasing growth over the past two and a half years, may falter as a result.