Published on 02 March 2006 at 10:56 am
Filed in Property News for Caribbean » US Investors Hedging Bets in Caribbean Real Estate Sector
An increasing number of American property investors are heading for the Caribbean in search of affordable real estate where they can invest to hedge against a possible slowdown in the local American real estate market.
Local estate agents in the Caribbean region are seeing record numbers of first time and seasoned investors heading to affordable havens such as Panama, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic in search of investment property opportunities, while the demand for real estate in the more expensive destinations such as Puerto Rica and the Cayman Islands is also increasing.
While the National Association of Realtors recently declared that any slow down in the real estate market in America had already happened, investors wary of such predictions and keen to hedge against the property market cycle in America are looking further afield for investment property hotspots.
The Central American countries with Caribbean coastlines such as Panama and Belize are already well known as destinations favoured by Northern American real estate investors in search of affordable property in areas where there is growing demand. Such markets are less affected by the ebb and flow of a property market cycle at the moment because they are still emerging and demand for resale and rental homes in the regions is increasing annually.
Nowadays Caribbean destinations lesser explored by property investors such as Turks and Caicos, Grenada, St. Kitts and the Grenadines are becoming investment real estate hotspots - and as word gets out about the appeal of these destinations so demand from tourists to rent such property increases which affords those who have already invested greater rental yields and the potential for even higher capital appreciation figures.
Most of the Caribbean region is regarded as safe by international real estate investors because many of the islands have legal systems and title deed registration methods adopted and adapted from the British or American systems; furthermore there are very few restrictions applied to those who wish to invest and then holiday in their Caribbean investment property. And finally, the relatively short flying times and easy access to many of the Caribbean islands and Caribbean facing countries that Americans benefit from means that more US based real estate investors are benefiting from having access to diverse and emerging property markets that are almost on their doorsteps.
