Caracola Beach and Spa Resort Porlamar Price From: €79,000 Region: Porlamar Isla Margarita • 10 Year Guaranteed Rental • Beach Front Development • Early Entry	Golf 5 Playa Bavaro Dominican Republic Price From: £268,000 Region: Playa Bavaro Punta Cana • Fully Furnished - Frontline Golf • Finance Available • Excellent Rental Potential	Golf 1 Playa Bavaro Dominican Republic Price From: $180,000 Region: Playa Bavaro Punta Cana • Fully Furnished • Excellent price per sqm • Golf and Beach Resort
Buccament Bay Beach Resort Buccament Bay Price From: £170,000 Region:  Buccament Bay St Vincent & The Grenadines • 10% Rental Guarantee • 100% Financing • Only £1,000 to pay before completion	The Merricks Resort Spa & Residence St Philip Price From: £240,000 Region: St Philip Barbados • Only £1,000 to pay until completion • 100% Financing • 10% Rental Guarantee	Las Canas Boutique Beach Resort Puerto Plata Price From: £75,000 Region: Puerto Plata Dominican Republic • Only £1,000 to pay until completion • 100% Financing • 10% Rental Guarantee

Caribbean

Caribbean Property

A visit to the Caribbean today offers far more than simply world's best beaches.  As the islands have grown into international travel destinations, their individual features and strengths have emerged.  Many traditional cultures have been preserved, and the astonishing ecological treasures of the islands are among their most celebrated features.  The region's rich history is also gaining a more appreciative audience among holidaymakers and investor alike.  The Caribbean now offers a more diverse and vibrant travel experience than ever before.

Due to its unrivalled popularity with celebrities, film stars, the well-heeled and the cruise-ship fraternity who yo-yo between boat and onshore duty-free shopping, the Caribbean does however generally come with a high price tag.  Hotels such as Sandy Lane on the more established island of Barbados charge a minimum of 900 US dollars a night for a standard room rising well into the thousands for superior options.  Only heavy wallets need apply.

On the flip side there are plenty of islands either just beginning to emerge or yet to reach their peak.  Consider the embryonic property markets on Isla Margarita, the Turks & Caicos, St Vincent & The Grenadines and so on.  These destinations offer comparable properties at a fraction of the price of the most well-known islands and there is substantial capital appreciation yet to be enjoyed. 

WHY INVEST IN CARIBBEAN PROPERTY?

CARIBBEAN CLIMATE ****

The Caribbean as a whole offers perfect weather.  All the islands are tropical and experience warm and humid conditions with temperatures of around 28 degrees Celsius in the hotter months of July through August.  Monsoon season falls between June and November and typically involves much welcomed bouts of rain.  Hurricanes are by no means a given and tend to form only during the month of September, if at all.  The vast majority of hurricanes are insignificant and some islands such as Isla Margarita miss out altogether as they are outside the hurricane belt.  During the 'winter' season in January through February there is only a slight dip in temperature to around a balmy 24 degrees Celsius.

CARIBBEAN ACCESSIBILITY ****

The Caribbean will always be a long haul destination for Europeans as it is approximately a nine-hour flight.  However flights are now becoming more frequent and infinitely better priced due to the rise in popularity of emerging Caribbean stars such as the Dominican Republic.  Established islands such as Barbados and the Bahamas are served by a wide variety of carriers including British West Indian Airlines (BWIA), British Airways (BA), American Airlines (AA), Air Canada (AC), Canadian Airlines and Air Jamaica (AJ).  A huge plus point is the incredibly easy access from the Americas to the Caribbean Islands, thus opening up rental potential to a vast ‘local’ market of millions.  By way of example approximate flight time from Barbados to Toronto-Canada is four hours, Miami is three and a half hours and New York is five hours.

CARIBBEAN ECONOMY ****

Sugar was once the main agricultural export of the Caribbean, and while it still remains prevalent today, the economy of the islands is not nearly as dependent on sugar production as it once was due to the immense growth of the tourist industry.  The individual economies of the Caribbean islands are generally open to free trade and many islands are beginning to diversify their industries.  Sugar, bananas, eggplant and flowers are exported from several islands whilst other crops are still grown exclusively for domestic use.  The distillation and large-scale export of rum, a well-known island product, takes place on most islands where sugarcane is grown. Offshore banking is also an important part of Caribbean commerce, and St. Croix has one of the world's largest petroleum refinery facilities, as does Aruba.

CARIBBEAN TOURISM *****

The phenomenal and continuing surge of tourism and investment in the Caribbean ranges from the prestigious hi-brow glamour of islands such as Barbados and the Bahamas, to the exciting emerging markets of the less developed islands of the Dominican Republic and the Turks & Caicos.  This has also sparked indirect growth in numerous other domestic industries such as construction as well as various service- and tourism- related enterprises.

By and large most other industries in the Caribbean rank below tourism in profitability. In the US Virgin Islands, for example, tourism provides 70 percent of the island's jobs and accounts for more than 70 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  Tourist arrivals to the Turks & Caicos rose from 87,000 in 1996 to 200,000 in 2006, more than half of which were from the United States.  The Dominican Republic is also one to watch with property investment surrounding new golf courses, as is Isla Margarita, especially with the construction of a 350 million US dollar Formula One Circuit. 

CARIBBEAN PROPERTY MARKET *****

The Caribbean is known throughout the world as a tax haven.  The vast majority of islands carry no corporation tax, no personal income tax, no estate or inheritance tax and no annual real estate tax.  Plus, there is the not insignificant bonus of fantastic duty-free shopping.  All of these factors carry enormous appeal for foreign investors, as do the increasingly frequent and competitively priced flights.

The benefits don’t stop there; capital appreciation and rental returns on property in prime and emerging areas continue to increase annually with no sign of abating.  There is a pretty much guaranteed demand for holiday rentals which in turn amasses property owners high yields, meanwhile the cost of living is comparatively low, especially in less developed areas such as the Dominican Republic.  The future is incredibly bright for property investment in this idyllic part of the world whether you go for the exciting prospect of the emerging markets or the prestigious glamour of the more established and well-known islands.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON BUYING PROPERTY CARIBBEAN, CONTACT US BY CALLING (UK) 0800 036 0068   (EIRE) 1800 211 462   (INTERNATIONAL) +34 952 799 286. OUR PROPERTY CARIBBEANTEAM ARE HERE TO HELP.