Buyers urged to be strategic as real estate boom continues

Expanding road infrastructure influencing growth; Younger diasporans Cashing in

A real estate boom continues to unfold across Jamaica, fuelled by rising demand from local and overseas buyers, as well as ongoing developments reshaping the property landscape, local experts say. 

“We’re seeing the boom right across Jamaica, primarily driven by Kingston and St Andrew, of course, but also the connecting corridors – St Catherine, Clarendon, St Thomas, and then the North Coast has taken off for some time, so all across St Ann, a little bit of St Mary and Montego Bay is hot,” explained Gabrielle Grant Gilpin-Hudson, president of the Realtors’ Association of Jamaica at a recent property-focused webinar dubbed Securing Your Piece of the Rock. The event was organised and hosted by the JN Group.

She said there has been a surge in demand for apartments and standalone units in gated communities, with the expansion of the country’s road network and improvements in infrastructure also contributing to the boom. She said how buyers engage with the market depends on their individual goals. 

“The area that you may have the most interest in will depend on your appetite, what you’re looking for and your lifestyle choices,” she said. “Are you looking to live, invest, vacation or retire?” 

Wanica Purkiss, mortgage broker and principal of Wanica Purkiss Consulting, said current trends also show several younger members of the diaspora gravitating towards single-family homes being positioned as investment-ready units for rentals, while also serving as a home base when they visit the country.

“You have persons within the age group 35 to 45 who migrated and are now working and are buying into the new apartments, and there is a wide cross-section of available units depending on what you’re looking for,” she said.

She noted that Manchester continues to be an area of choice, particularly among United Kingdom-based buyers seeking more spacious properties. She said there’s also growing interest along the St Ann to Trelawny corridor which features “a mix of different types of properties – single units, apartments, condos;” however “the difference now is that space is not as before. They are much smaller units.” 

Against this backdrop, prospective buyers are being urged to take a strategic approach to the market and to adequately prepare for the realities of property ownership in Jamaica.

Mrs Purkiss, who is also a former mortgage executive at JN, said the journey begins with savings as “in any transaction that you do you have to have a cash input into the property that you’re purchasing. You must have your deposit and other upfront and mortgage closing costs.”

Due diligence also remains a key step, she said, stressing the importance of title checks and inspections before proceeding with a transaction. “In addition, you have to get your credit in order, ensure that you are creditworthy, have the capacity to borrow and most importantly, have a stable income,” she said.

Building on this point, mortgage specialists reinforced that financing support is available in the market through institutions such as JN Bank and the National Housing Trust (NHT), both of which operate with distinct lending criteria that applicants must understand before beginning the process.

Dave Hanson, chief product officer for mortgages at JN Bank, said one of the first things prospective borrowers looking for financial support should do is get pre-approved. This, he said, helps with understanding one’s capacity before beginning to actively search for property. He explained that applicants are typically required to submit proof of income, employment verification, credit history and, in some cases, evidence of savings for a deposit. 

“That pre-approval letter conveys that you are qualified and you’ll be able to afford the level of financing required,” he said, while warning that any changes in circumstances can change the borrowing figures and affect the final mortgage assessment. “Once we are presenting the pre-approval letter, we also outline the next steps in the process, so you are adequately apprised of what is to come,” he said.

Dwayne Berbick, assistant general manager, corporate affairs at the NHT, also urged prospective borrowers to be actively engaged throughout the process, noting that “a mortgage is personal.”

He explained that no two mortgage journeys are the same, especially as lending criteria, including factors such as age, borrowing capacity and other eligibility considerations, may also be adjusted based on individual assessments.

“One of the challenges individuals sometimes face is basing their expected mortgage experience on someone else’s reality, and so you need to have that relationship with your mortgage provider to be able to say, ‘This is my reality, and this is how my circumstances have changed over the process or even from the beginning.’ There are small nuances that can make my mortgage numbers look very different from someone else’s at the end of the day.”

The webinar, held on May 21, was hosted ahead of the 11th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference, scheduled for June 14 to 18 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James. JN Group, a legacy sponsor since its inception in 2004, is a co-chair of the conference. It is a precursor of topics that will be further explored during the conference, which was informed by research conducted earlier this year by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade among members of the Jamaican diaspora globally.

The webinar was attended by hundreds of people from across the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Caribbean, and other diaspora communities who are looking to retire, relocate or invest in Jamaica.