Cayman 27 News Report on 10th Anniversary Cayman Property Review

http://cayman27.ky/2019/03/charterland-reveals-2018-cayman-property-review-at-chamber-of-commerce-event/

When Charterland published its first independent property review, the local market was reeling from the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis. Ten years later, Cayman finds itself in the midst of a property boom.

“We’ve actually got 1857 open market sales registered in 2018,” said Charterland partner Simon Watson.

Mr. Watson ran down the numbers from this year’s Cayman Property Review for an audience of real estate and development professionals at Wednesday afternoon’s (20 March) Chamber of Commerce ‘Be informed’ event.

“We literally go through every transaction that is registered by the land registry,” Mr. Watson explained to attendees.

Mr. Watson told Cayman 27 he and his team of chartered surveyors impartially and independently analyse that transaction data to compile the annual review.

He said the objective is to offer the public an unvarnished view of market conditions.

“There was a lot of misinformation out there, and we are in the business of doing property valuations and we think that it’s better that the public have the true information out there,” said Mr. Watson.

This year’s report shows property transfers up 9% percent over 2017, continuing an upward trend that dates back to 2013.

The rising market is also reflected in the increase in the total value of sales. 2018 sales figures exceeded $800 million, marking a 17.8% increase over 2017, and the highest total value of yearly sales on record, according to the report.

Chamber CEO Wil Pineau said the report contains valuable information for Chamber membership and the business community.

“For most people either their home or pieces of land are their most valuable asset that they own, so when somebody like Simon from Charterland does this type of research it’s important to pay attention,” said Mr. Pineau.

Mr. Watson said the report was prepared in accordance with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors code of professional conduct.

“We are not in the business of selling anything, we are there to report the facts,” he said.