|
For decades now Barbados has been a uniquely successful real estate market in the Caribbean.
Uncertainty in international financial circles in 2008 has slowed development in the local sector, but indications of this may well be short-lived, with a bounce back expected by 2010.
Barbados is still today awash with real estate opportunities: office buildings, luxury villas, palatial coral stone houses, condominiums, hotels and quaint old plantations.
In the last few years upscale holiday condominiums and villas have dominated the sector.
According to Barbados-based Terra Caribbean, one of the largest real estate management companies in the region, about 285 new apartments in the holiday market were sold in 2008, about 110 fewer than in the previous year.
The largest fall off came in the last 6 months of 2008, as the international crisis deepened, and some vendors offered discounts of up to 25% in American currency to make the sale.
By Terra's own estimates 2009 could see a 30% drop in new property for sale in Barbados, due largely to the temporary shelving of some projects and the cancellation of others, as the world financial slowdown makes its presence felt.
Beachfront property in Barbados traditionally attracts higher prices than inland units and the island's south coast offers better bargains than the more upscale west coast. South coast beach front apartments currently range on average from about US$425 per square foot to about US$550. For the West coast be prepared to double that!
The new ultra modern Beachlands condo project on the west coast, for instance, is asking between US$1,470 and US$1,733 per square foot for the 46 spacious beachfront units it put on the market, offering "European elegance with a concierge service." The sprawling new Sands condo project that is nearing completion is offering 10,000 square foot units at about US$15 million each.
The price differential between the south and west coasts is linked to the fact that the former is dominated by local developers and the latter by foreign, mainly UK or European speculators.
One of the most spectacular up-market projects currently underway in Barbados is the Clearwater Bay Private Residences being developed by British real estate millionaire Mike Pemberton's Cinnamon 88 Company on the island's west coast.
Pemberton and his partner Robin Patterson bought a spectacular 32-acre beachfront site and are well into developing 35 unique multi-million dollar luxury homes, several of which have already been sold to millionaires abroad, mostly in Europe. The houses range from 7,000 to 18,000 square feet, with prices starting at US$10 million each.
By press accounts American Idol media mogul Simon Cowell has already invested in 3 of the villas. Famed British music composer-conductor Baron Lloyd-Webber is also on board, along with European race car A-listers Adrian Newey and Eddie Jordan.
In addition to the residences, the project is expected to house an upscale 111-room Four Seasons Hotel. At its present pace, the project is at least a year from completion in 2010.
Also well underway is the sprawling 470-acre in-land Apes Hill Club development, featuring 300 luxury homes, a PGA-standard 18-hole golf course, a polo centre and an unmatched panoramic view of much of Barbados, the Caribbean sea and the Atlantic ocean. Apes Hill is a joint venture between Barbados' number one land owner and construction magnate, Sir Charles Williams and two foreign developers - the US-based Landmark Land Company and Britain's Wentworth Club.
To date three quarters of the available lots have been sold to Caribbean, international and local clients and the semi-detached villas that form part of the residential community will be occupied in 2009.
There will be 20 luxurious three-bedroom, 2,600 square foot townhouses surrounding a lake on a 54-acre estate that overlooks the Waterhall polo field.
As to the future, there is understandably a wait-and-see attitude among some foreign developers, unsure about what will happen in their own home countries, for the most part Britain and Europe. The prognosis going forward is however good, according to some industry spokespeople.
UK-based developer Euan Cresswell, who works on the island, expects Barbados will benefit from a flight to quality in the real estate market, as the turmoil in the world financial markets eases.
Cresswell, Managing Director of Westmark, is of the view that, in the final analysis, miserable weather and wretched financial circumstances in buyers' home countries "can only make a home and time spent in a more relaxed and sunny location such as Barbados more attractive."
|
