2023 TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS REAL ESTATE - 1st QUARTER YEAR-TO-DATE COMPARISON
The inextricably linked tourism and real estate businesses in the Turks and Caicos Islands are, naturally, predicated upon the simple principle of supply and demand, and we are enjoying tremendous economic success due to our strong fundamentals with regards to these two vital drivers.
On the supply side, we have an amazing array of existing hospitality inventory and property – from hotels, condominiums, managed and stand-alone villas - that have proved to be among the best-in-show throughout the Caribbean for high-end tourism, drawing in high quality visitors. Further, our inventory pipeline is strong, as developers conceive and build luxury properties, which will continue to satisfy tourism and real estate demand for renting and non-renting owners alike. Because our market is more dependent on New Development than more mature markets, and further dependent on individually owned condominiums and villas, New development buyers, who often buy off-plan and before a shovel is in the ground, are essential participants in our market’s growth. For example, in the New Development sector, at projects such as Beach Enclave, South Bank and The Strand, construction of an individual villa commences once purchasers have signed land purchase and construction agreements. In the condominium sector, developers commit to building once a prerequisite number of units are pre–sold. In this regard, we are highly dependent on pre–construction purchasers to “co-invest” with our developers in order to fuel new projects. Presently, as we navigate the low existing re-sale inventory market, we look towards the future with a plethora of great projects in the pipeline, led by The Point By Grace Bay Resorts, ARC at South Bank, The Strand, St. Regis and others. These new projects create welcome for-sale inventory into the market, to supplement our constricted, existing re-sale inventory.
2022 Real Estate Market Posts Strong Follow-up Year to Historic 2021
Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) has long attracted luxury real estate developers and investors for its turquoise waters, pristine white beaches, attractive quality of life and strong infrastructure. As one of the most sought-after destinations in the Caribbean, TCI has gained much attention from the industry as its steps onto the global stage.
Turks & Caicos Sotheby’s International Realty is pleased to release the following findings from its highly anticipated 2022 Year End Market Report, sharing key insights, trends and future outlook predictions.
After a history-making year in 2021, which reached $765M in closed transactions, Turks and Caicos continued its strong performance in 2022, totaling $553M in sales. This second-best year surpassed the prior record holder of 2019, which recorded $337M in dollar volume, by 63.5 percent. Looking ahead into 2023, the sales pipeline remains strong with an impressive $327M in pending transactions led by pre-construction villa sales.
The Single Family Home sector, with $214M in sales volume, accounted for 39 percent of all sales in 2022, as opposed to 49 percent in 2021. This shift can be attributed to absorbed inventory as well as ongoing construction for many residential homes. Total Condominium sales of $171M accounted for 31 percent of all sales volume in 2022, with a similar share compared to 2021. Meanwhile, Land sales of $143M saw the biggest proportional increase year over year, from 19 percent in 2021 to 26 percent in 2022, as investors seek to build and seize long-term investment opportunities.
TCI Real Estate Seeing New Development Expand As We Head Towards Another Record Year!
With the exception of 2021, the 3rd Quarter is historically our quietest quarter due to the back-to-school and hurricane seasons, to be followed by a significant uptick in 4th Quarter as we gear up for our busy season. As such, Q3 2022 is proving to be more in line with previous years’ activity and still in line with pre–covid peaks.
As illustrated in this report, real estate sales are still holding steady alongside an exceptional 2021. For this 3rd Quarter 2022, the overall graph has been broken down into sales volume by quarter for each of the past four years, indicating the ebb and flow of volume through each quarter. Pending deals that are slated to close out at year-end 2022 currently place the real estate market 38% ahead of 2019 year-end sales volume which was a record year itself. Considering the pending sales on the MLS, projected 2022 year-end sales volume will be very close to $500M and represents another record year in the making.
Within the 2nd Quarter report, we mentioned that several developers have exciting projects on the forefront which will be launched very soon that will help bridge the gap to sustain our market’s decade-long momentum. We are happy to present these new developments in the pages of our report which include a mix of pre-construction offerings. New Development is essential in real estate and we are entering a new wave of extremely high-quality projects from legacy developers, including ARC and NIVA from Windward Developments (Blue Cay, South Bank), a re-imagined Villas at Blue Mountain by Hartling Group, and the soon-to-be announced Grace Bay Resorts project next door to Point Grace.
TCI Real Estate Market Continues to Ride Momentum of Historic 2021
As we read through the headlines of each market report, since the tipping point at the end of 2011, one can sense how the momentum has escalated throughout the past decade. Turks & Caicos Islands is no longer a secret and has become the luxury standard for investors and vacation homeowners. These yearly successes have helped our country overcome the odds, firstly in 2017 with Hurricane Irma and then in 2020 with the Pandemic. We remained cautiously optimistic during both of those occasions and now look back with pride for our community, private sector and the TCI Government and the good guidance and support provided by all throughout.
So how does a real estate market follow such a monumental year in sales? We can look to the financial advisors for their analysis such as the Baker Tilly report, within our Caribbean region, with recent headlines of “Investors Bullish on Caribbean Tourism Boom”. The newly published survey for 2022 is a robust report that shows several indicators that both Banks and Non-Bank Lenders are confident that the Caribbean real estate and tourism growth will continue for the next 12 to 18 months. See link to Baker Tilly Survey in the report.
What does this mean for Turks & Caicos Islands? Thankfully, several developers have exciting projects on the forefront which will be launched very soon. New developments and emerging re-sale inventory will help bridge the gap to sustain our market’s decade-long momentum. The fast-paced sales cycles witnessed in 2021 and first quarter of 2022 have tapered off in some areas positioning buyers for a hopeful replenishment in depleted inventory.
Another indicator of our sustained and continued growth is Standard & Poor’s affirmation of our country’s sovereign credit rating for long-term bonds, denominated in both domestic and foreign currency, of BBB+. Furthermore, S&P believes the TCI will continue to adhere to prudent financial management and limit borrowing, and that fiscal reserve balances will increase during the next two years. See link to TCI Weekly News Article in the report.
The gauge where real estate agents have our finger on the pulse is with our clients and owners of TCI real estate. This is the barometer that is at the core and best defines the health and sustained growth of our market. With 85% of TCI real estate owners from North America, we can sense the ebb and flow with investor confidence within our market which is historically linked directly to the USA and NA.
Now for our current market report for the first half of 2022, the market stats are holding up quite well to last year’s historic run. Condominium sales continue to be strong with a sales volume increase of 42.54%, led by the Rock House completion, Ritz Carlton sales completions carryover and robust condominium re-sales. In 2021, buyers were focused on single family villas until inventory depleted, and now in 2022 they are concentrating on condominiums at all price ranges. The Overall Market finished a mere 10.5 % down over last years’ Q2 with $327,501,259 in total sales. Click link to view full report.
Real Estate Sales Continue To Soar
Turks & Caicos Real Estate continues to soar as 2022 is shaping up to be another strong year with buyer demand remaining solid in a fast-paced market with a lot of moving targets. Competition for desired properties is high with many listing agents managing multiple offers and off market properties selling without coming to market. Buyers know what they want, and sales agents are digging deep to find an appropriate investment or vacation home for their clients and customers.
Construction throughout Providenciales, even without large scale vertical development, at this time, is at an all-time high with new homes coming out of the ground in all community areas and stretching to the out islands. The biggest issue for builders and developers is trying to contain ever increasing construction costs hit hard by supply chain and inflationary issues.
In the forefront with new construction is the implementation of renewable energy which seems to be a top selling feature for new developments on island. Notable developers are on board with Renu Energy TCI, a renewable energy company that has also experience tremendous growth over the past three years with the installation of solar panels, tesla power walls and electric vehicles and accessories.
Fortis TCI has also been at work transforming the TCI energy landscape with the introduction of solar power programs to take advantage of this ample resource, C.O.R.E (Customer Owned Renewable Energy) and U.O.R.E. (Utility Owned Renewable Energy), with the latter program contracting several companies. The EV and charging station pilot project which was introduced in 2018 has started to catch on with several electric cars in use throughout and charging stations popping up across the island.
Leading the way in energy efficiency and various forms of renewable energy in Turks & Caicos was Green Revolution which was established in 2011. Since their formation the company has completed many projects both residential and commercial in scale, throughout the region. These projects are saving residents of the Caribbean hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
With sustainability on peoples’ minds and in the news, we are proud that our country has embraced the importance of these initiatives and developed a plan for our beautiful by nature islands. The recent signing of the TCI Climate Change Charter which took place on Earth Day this past Friday, April 22nd during the 1st Annual Climate Change Summit entitled “Only One Earth – Invest In Our Planet”, the private and public sectors came together to take action with this roadmap as a guide to help protect and safeguard our environmental assets. Click link to view full report.
2021 Turks & Caicos Real Estate - Exceeding Wildest Aspirations!
The headline for our 2020 Year End Report read: “2020 Turks & Caicos Real Estate Market Closes Like a Champ”. Then, with each quarterly report throughout this past year, we witnessed record breaking sales and it became clear that we were heading for a historic year.
And what to say about a supernova year where our annual sales volume increased 158.5% from $290M to $751M!! Where Single Family Homes accounted for a whopping $369M, up 137% over last year’s $155M, with average prices up 30%, from $1.72M to $2.25M. And where Condominium sales, led by the completion of The Ritz-Carlton, improved by 282%, from $59M to $225M, with a 33.5% increase in average price from $1.03M to $1.38M!
Impressive TCI Market Continues Through Q3
Building on the record breaking first half of the year, Q3, historically our slowest quarter, gained a whopping 319% over Q3 last year ($158,905,323 vs. $37,891,750), with year-to-date sales volume up over 150% over the first three quarters of last year ($496,710,829 vs. $198,330,657). These numbers represent historic events, of course, and with Canada and other countries now open for travel, we expect a strong fourth quarter with the caveat that all this great sales volume is resulting in constriction of inventory.
Led by a slew of trophy sales, and luxury villas (managed and standalone), single family homes have accounted for 56% of the total market y-t-d ($280,874,064 with an average price of $2,246,993) up 161% and 17% respectively. Condos account for 19.8% of the total market ($98,745,262) up 196% y-t-d). This number will normalize as new development condos at Ritz Carlton Grace Bay and Rock House are posted as closed. Raw land sales also displayed strong performance and have accounted for 21% of the total market and is up 123% year-on-year with an increase of 45% in average price from $397,363 to $576,371. Significant sales in Q3 included Coral Pavilion $15M, Footprints on the Beach $8.1M, Beach Enclave North Shore V4 $5.5M, Beach Enclave Long Bay V6 $5.45 and Hawk’s Nest Villa $2.77M. Click link to view full report.
Turks & Caicos Real Estate Sales Continue at a Breakneck Pace!
The TCI real estate market is seemingly ‘too hot to handle’ as we witness yet another record-breaking quarter in sales volume along with pending/under construction sales not recorded within this amount! This first half of the year has just closed out with a staggering $328M in sales volume which is normally TCI’s yearly sales volume – in a very strong year! That’s a 105% increase over last years 2nd Quarter with an average price increase of 26%. All segments of the market saw increases contributing to this incredible spike in sales. Significant sales noted in this 2ndQ were, Turtle Tail Estate $20.25M, Villa Salacia $16M, Casa Tremer $7.995M, and The Estate at Grace Bay Club G504 $5M. The tourism industry is also witnessing record numbers in occupancy during this time as Turks & Caicos continues to flourish and to fulfill its destiny as a leading and premiere upscale destination in the Caribbean. The resilient Turks & Caicos real estate and tourism market has sustained economic growth and real estate sales for the past eight years, and we expect to see continued growth, with new and exciting projects in the pipeline.Click link to view full report.
TCI Real Estate Market Ascends To The Next Level
Following a breathtaking fourth quarter of 2020, the TCI real estate market has just closed an historical quarter of business with nearly $128,000,000 in closed transactions, up 60% over the same period last year with average price increases across each sector. What’s more, there are over $463,000,000 (you read that right!) in pending and conditional transactions and this leaves out another circa $100M in new development sales at the Ritz-Carlton Residences (set to open this summer), South Bank, Beach Enclave, Rock House, The Strand and other new Development projects. There is a lot to unpack. First, it is clear for the post-COVID world that ultra-luxury and luxury markets have fully endorsed Turks & Caicos Islands as a preferred warm weather destination. Also, a vacation property is now much more than simply a lifestyle investment, but a life investment and often an integral part of work, play and community, contributing to taking our market to the next level.
2020 Turks & Caicos Real Estate Market Closes Like A Champ
The 2020 TCI real estate market performed better than we ever could have hoped for in the context of COVID–19, a four-month country-wide shutdown and stringent travel requirements. And I guess our task in this space is to seek to answer the question, as set forth by the great David Byrne of Talking Heads: “Well, how did we get here?!” Let’s start abroad: After the stock market cratered, it began to recover quickly and it became clear this was not a rerun of the 2008 financial crisis. Soon thereafter, we witnessed affluent buyers starting to move on luxury vacation property from Vail to Aspen, and from the Hamptons to South Florida. COVID–19 was triggering the opposite of the financial crash of September 2008, in that luxury real estate was highly desired by those looking for easy-to-access, safe-haven retreats away from urban areas and primary homes. With airports and resorts closed, and most commercial planes not flying, the luxury market was, quite urgently, seeking out real estate! Click link to view full report.
Light At The End of The Tunnel
3Q Sales Show Steady Balance With Positive Year End Predictions
There is light at the end of the tunnel as we creep back to a somewhat normal life, albeit carefully, so as not to unleash further closures as parts of the world are now experiencing for a second time. The measures put into place have helped secure the health and welfare of our people here in the Turks & Caicos Islands and the steady stream of visitors fortunate enough to arrive over the past couple of months have been pleasantly surprised at the consistent protocols throughout the businesses on island. The atmosphere and the beautiful, uncrowded beaches make for a very refreshing place to rest and revive your spirit through this time. It is no surprise that real estate inquiries are streaming in and sales are continuing at a regular pace. Last year marked a record year in real estate sales so it’s humbling to compare to those numbers, however, the 3Q graphs for 2020 are indicating a constant and strong balance. It is noteworthy that, of the $147M in pending sales on MLS, we expect $80M of these deals to close out before the end of this year which would bring the projected annual total sales for 2020 to $273M, approximately $10M higher than our 2018 year end sales. Click link to view full report.
Defying the Odds - First Half of 2020 Up Over Same Period Last Year
In late March, our world, and everything in it, came to a screeching halt, as Turks & Caicos Islands closed its borders to tourists and visitors through the end of June. Resorts, restaurants, airports and businesses closed and real estate deals, after a strong Q1, were either canceled or deferred.
However, unlike the aftermath of the financial crisis of September 2009, where we had weak fundamentals and luxury buyers disappeared, the opposite has occurred, with luxury and other buyers remaining in the game and continuing to shop and purchase real estate. Reports from our Sotheby’s International Realty network echo similar strength and trends in the US and Canada, and many countries internationally. In this regard, our market demand has shown much greater resilience and further, there has not been a flight to list property. Click link to view full report.
1ST QUARTER 2020 CLOSES OUT ON A HIGH – PRE-COVID-19
As many of us are forced to slow down our lives and reflect inward, we are grateful for many things that this unprecedented time has brought us to evaluate, including of course our families, friends, communities and a country that has put all of our people first with their proactive decisions during this health crisis. We are further grateful to our TCI Government leaders, HE Premier Cartwright-Robinson, HE Governor Dakin, the Ministry of Health and their teams for their thoughtful leadership and communication.
As we begin to accept and absorb our new reality, we are advancing our way back to business activity and effectively working as a team and with clients and customers, and there are even new transactions in process, furthered by the recent reduction in Stamp Duty by 50%, which has provided a welcome trigger for short-term activity. Click link to view full report.
Turks & Caicos Real Estate Closes The Decade With Record Shattering Year On the Strength of Luxury Villa Sales
Turks & Caicos real estate sales closed out the second decade of the 21st-century with a bang, after entering it tepidly in 2010, as the following graphs demonstrates that villa sales represented around 52% of the total market in 2019. Circa $219.7M of the record $334.7M dollar volume were villa sales with a stunning average price point of $1.98M. This incredibly impressive performance speaks volumes for the power of the Turks and Caicos Islands brand, our private and public sector, and our wonderful investors, homeowners and visitors. If the past ten years can make history as our decade of the luxury villas, what will the next ten years’ headline be? With the pending completion of the Ritz-Carlton Residences on Grace Bay, Rock House under construction, and with other vertical development in the pipeline such as The Bight Hotel and next phase for Point Grace, amongst others, we project a balancing of villa and condominium development throughout this next decade with a sprinkling of mixed-use developments. TCI has tremendous momentum and a lot of potential growth as we remain humble and grateful for our wonderful position in the Caribbean and the greater region. Click link to view full report.
Impressive Third Quarter Leads TCI Market Towards Record Year
Led by our record-breaking sale of The Residence on Parrot Cay at $27,000,000, Q3 2019 posted an impressive gain over 2018 (up 38.8% from $64,785,600 to $89,918,500). Historically, Q3 is our sleepiest quarter, but it has become apparent over the past few years that TCI is now indeed a year-round market for both tourism and real estate, and not just a seasonal one, with strong summers and improving shoulder month performance. Overall, the market after three quarters is up 16.47% over last year in $ Volume ($241,145,500 vs. $207,048,195). This dollar volume is more than the market did in all of 2017! Average price is up 30% from $692,469 to $903,167. Click link to view full report.
Real Estate Sales Continue On An Upward Trend!
Turks & Caicos Islands, the shining star of the Caribbean, continues to shine brightly as we see a steady influx of investor growth and activity in new development. The infrastructure improvements and ongoing utility upgrades will further improve to serve the luxury standards now set by our luxury home-grown brands and with the most recent entrance of world renowned brands such as Ritz-Carlton and Andaz. The construction industry has been busy for the past five years as we have witnessed villa projects and new homes being built on recently sold land parcels. In addition, high end land purchasers who desired to build from scratch, or who could not find a home/villa that fit their needs, have embarked on some amazing new homes and estate homes, relying on the expertise of local architects, builders and consultants, proceeded to build their own custom dream vacation homes. There is evidence of this impressive array of private development throughout the Turks & Caicos, especially in the luxury sector, as the islands continue to grow as the destination of choice for many real estate investors and visitors. Click on link to view full report.
Real Estate Development - A Changing Landscape
Turks & Caicos Islands is steeped in history yet so young in its real estate development with early progress beginning only 50 years ago. During each passing decade we have seen a gradual change in the landscape of our islands. Some of the first aerial photographs were taken when Astronaut John Glen drifted overhead and eventually landed near Grand Turk in 1962. Real estate development followed this momentous event in 1966 with the construction of the airstrip, building of roadways and the historic Third Turtle Inn. Each decade has brought a new dimension and the proliferation of good growth and development. The 80’s and 90’s brought the financial industry, utility companies, and other infrastructure along with small hotels and inns, the first 3-storey condominium projects, daily air service from Miami on American Airlines and the country’s only golf club, Provo Golf & Country Club. The start of the 2nd millennium saw the formation of the Turks & Caicos Real Estate Association (‘TCREA’) and in addition, the decade brought an astounding thirteen new, 5 to 7-storey condominium developments to the Grace Bay waterfront and truly opened up the doors for tourism with increased air services from multiple destinations. This surge in vertical development set the stage for the ‘now’ world-renowned Grace Bay beach, which continues to be the main tourist hub in Turks & Caicos. Click on link to view full report.
An Overnight sensation . . . After 30 Years
Just recently, my good friend Larry Klein, long-time producer of “Dick Clark’s Good Rockin’ Eve” and the “American Music Awards”, asked me how Turks & Caicos in its present state differed from my expectations when I first made land fall in 1989 – a couple of years before we met - and Dick, as our first “real” celebrity, set out to build his home on Taylor Bay. It was a great question, and my answer was pretty much as follows: “I never had any doubt that Turks & Caicos would find success because of our solid fundamentals, such as proximity to Miami, unsurpassed beaches and waters, climate, people, form of government, US currency, and English as the spoken language. What I never anticipated though, was that TCI would become such a desired luxury destination”. I just could not foresee how rapidly our islands could advance over three decades to support a luxury vacation market, which is a great credit to our people, and industry and government leaders. Today, nearly 30 years later, TCI has become perhaps the hottest luxury tourist destination brand. Why? Well, in a nutshell, TCI provides an unrivalled blend of ease of access and use, with fantastic luxury resort properties – hotels, condos and managed stand-alone villas - along with top flight infrastructure, services and amenities. With major airline access from Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Atlanta, Charlotte NC, Atlanta, DC, Philadelphia, NYC, Newark NJ, Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Dallas and the UK, and major private jet traffic into our two state of the art private air terminals, we are quite easy to get to. And, once you get here, it’s easy to get around and find your way. Nothing is too far, and inter/intra island land, sea and air transportation are excellent. Click on link to view full report.
Third Quarter Shows Real Estate Thriving Through 2018
We are pleased to show the 3rd Quarter Market Report with a continuing robust and strong output throughout 2018. We expect this performance to strengthen into 2019 and beyond as the new villa developments that have sold out, namely Beach Enclave Long Bay, The Shore Club Villas, and Blue Cay Estate, will be posted into the MLS system as their construction comes to an end. Meanwhile, we will announce new real estate investment opportunities coming to market this November and in early February. These new developments will offer a variety of property sizes, price points and locations. This much needed new inventory comes at an optimal time as the popularity of the Turks & Caicos Islands lifestyle continues to be discovered. The following graphs detail the overall performance, each residential sector and vacant land sales. We welcome you to contact us for further detail. Click on link to view full report.
Second Quarter Shows Sold Growth Through First Half of 2018
Turks & Caicos real estate continues to outperform most other countries in our jurisdiction. Visitors and owners from the US, Canada and beyond have discovered and coveted our award-winning beaches and island community, with many echoing the sentiment that they have found in the Turks & Caicos Islands a unique and highly accessible blend of compelling lifestyle, quality homes and properties, services and amenities unlike any other island chain in the region. There are several investment and lifestyle benefits that many have now discovered adding to the growth and development of the islands. We are pleased to report that the five villas within the Beach Enclave Long Bay development are now sold and only two villas remain available out of the ten villas offered at Beach Enclave Grace Bay. The six beachfront villas at The Shore Club on Long Bay are all sold or reserved as Shore Club celebrates over a year of full operation since opening early 2017. The developers of Gansevoort Villas in Turtle Tail have recently added a 7th villa, Villa 5107, which will be the final villa of their first phase. Five of seven villas are now successfully completed, and six of seven sold, with only the newly introduced pre-construction offering remaining at $4.4 Million. The Gansevoort Villas will also soon be introducing a new villa design within a nearby phase II location which will be detailed in our next newsletter. Blue Cay Estate, located on the Leeward Channel, has successfully sold and reserved all of the 16 villas in their offering to date. All of these newly constructed villas will be posted as sold on our TCREA MLS system once they are fully completed. Click on link to view full report.
First Quarter Off To Strong Start Led By New Construction Luxury Villas
The first quarter of this year got off to a flying start with a gross dollar volume of $63,056,396 vs. $54,330,769 last year - a 16% increase. While unit numbers declined from 90 to 70 (or 22%), the average price increased by a whopping 49% margin from $603,675 to $900,763. Over the 1st Quarter, Single-Family Home sales led the way, with dollar volume up 53% - from $25,308,369 to $38,742,996. The average selling price was up 39.77% - from $1,205,160 to $1,684,478. Included in this sales volume, at the luxury end, were the sales of Amanyara Villa for $5.65M, Tranquility Lane Villa for $4.6M and newly constructed villas - The Shore Club Villa 3 for $5.885M, The Dunes Villa 2 for $5.095M, and Blue Cay Estate Villa 13 and Villa 3 at $2.5M and $2.6M which are now fully completed and occupied by the new owners. Click on link to view full report.
TCI Strong Indeed!
As we recently reported, the TCI response to Irma has been nothing short of inspiring. Private and public sectors, resorts, utilities, charitable groups, and countless individuals joined forces and did a sensational job on clean-up and renewal, and while some work remains to be done in a few of our residential communities, Turks & Caicos has unquestionably proven itself as a world class destination with first world commercial building standards and infrastructure. It is hugely impressive that, in the context of Irma, Q4 performance was pretty much level with last year’s numbers, and that the year-end performance finished a mere 4% down from last year ($233M vs. $243M). And, with over $80M in Pending/Under Contract transactions, strong buyer psychology, sales activity and new development percolating, 2018 is setting up to be a great year. Certainly, US stock market performance and new tax policy, in addition to good worldwide economic fundamentals, will help our luxury market, and some will likely take some chips out of the stock market and look to invest in luxury international real estate. Click on link to view full report.
Business Back To Normal – Most Resorts Now Open
Life in the Caribbean of course is highlighted by year-round beautiful tropical weather. However, we all know that occasionally the amazing weather can extend to the other extreme, namely a hurricane or tropical storm. Through the years the world has been faced with many interruptions by Mother Nature, and this will never change. What has changed is our ability to be prepared for such extreme weather patterns by building solid structures and protecting ourselves should we be within the storm’s path. After Hurricanes Gilbert and Hugo narrowly missed us in 1988 and 1989 respectively, the Government of the Turks & Caicos Islands, with great foresight, established a new building code that would protect the future investments of our community and our countries’ many developers. These new building codes, and our infrastructure (power, water, communication, roads et. al.) were tested with the most recent storm, Hurricane Irma, and we are pleased and relieved that the new construction and “first world” infrastructure stood up remarkably well to the category 5 winds that were unleashed. Was there damage? Of course, but it is mostly all repairable. We are deeply thankful that there was no loss of life. We are also very thankful to all of the charity organizations that came to our aid and for the response teams that quickly repaired the power and water systems. Click on link to view full report.
Second Quarter Regains Momentum Led By Luxury Villa Sales
After a soft 4th Quarter in 2016 and slow 1st Quarter of 2017, which we largely attribute to the US election, this 2nd Quarter of 2017 has shown significant improvement with the year-to-date numbers closing the gap on last year’s year-to-date numbers. The sales volume was led by the steady sales in Single Family Homes with sold listings up by 25% and an increase in dollar volume from $57M to $60M. As expressed in our previous market report, Turks & Caicos Islands has perhaps the finest inventory of new luxury villa developments in the Caribbean, and this is translating to increased sales in this segment. The Home/Villa segment has a stunning backlog of circa $200M of pending sales which are preconstruction or under construction homes that are not included in the graphs within this report. These sales will be included within the next few years once the construction schedules of these homes complete. Click on link to view full report.
The Real Estate Market Remains Steady
This 1st Quarter of 2017 shows 5% more in sold listings but with a 33% lower dollar volume due to longer closing times causing a soft 4th Quarter in 2016 and the fact that the 1st Quarter of 2016 recorded a significant sale in Parrot Cay of $27.5 million. There is currently over $90 million in pending and conditional sales recorded in our TCREA MLS system and as these pending sales and new sales close throughout this year the gap in dollar volume will soon diminish. We remain confident that our market will have a strong 2017 when all is said and done. Click on link to view full report.
Strong Fundamentals Lead TCI Evolution
Well, the word is out – really out! From mentions on late night TV talk shows, to articles in high profile magazines, and postings on celebrity Instagram accounts, Turks and Caicos is generating strong buzz as the destination for cool, hassle free, luxury vacations. This recognition has translated to strong growth in tourism and real estate. This buzz and growth, however, would not be possible without strong fundamentals such as quality beaches, water and climate, quality tourism and real estate product, ease of access and use. Our success of course begins with the quality of our beaches and water, and climate. Grace Bay is acknowledged, with multiple awards, as the finest stretch of beach in the world. But this belies the depth and scope of our beaches, whether it be Long Bay, Sapodilla Bay, Taylor Bay, Babalua Beach, Thompson’s Cove Beach, Parrot Cay or the many other habited and inhabited beaches in our archipelago. In fact, TCI comprises 230 miles of some of the world’s finest beachfront. Our multi–hued, magical waters are the subject of thousands of inspiring photos, whether it be the deep blue beyond the reef to the lighter turquoise of the Caicos bank. There is a shade and texture for everyone. And finally, our warm, sunny, low humidity, low rainfall climate is ideal for year-round vacationing. Click on link to view full report.
TCI Real Estate Market Healthy, Sturdy And Consistent
Rather than focusing on the specifics of Q3 of this year, it seems like a good time to emphasize that our market has grown in a strong and rational manner over the past several years. As the represented graphs illustrate, our key market segments have shown a very healthy growth pattern, with the wavering nature of raw land being the outlier. This outlier is really caused by dearth of inventory in the market place and by the fact that $ volume in any given year is often predicated on one or two home-run commercial sales, which still could occur by the end of 2016. Click on link to view full report.
2nd Quarter 2016 – Pending Deals of $129 Million
While the second quarter of 2016 posted a slight drop from last year’s dollar volumes - following a 1st Quarter increase - Pending Sales (Under Contract and Conditional transactions) are at their highest levels since the boom of the mid 2000’s. The TCREA MLS system is currently showing Pending transactions of $22 Million in Land, $6.5 Million in Condos, and $101 Million in Homes/Villas, for a total of over $129 Million for the remainder of this year, including some pre-construction villa sales that will close in 2017. These include several of the sold out Beach Enclave North Shore villas, which has three completed villas and several others nearing completion, and the initial sales at Beach Enclave Long Bay, which is breaking ground in the Fall. Further included in these Pending deals are Villa 2 at the Dunes, the first few Wymara Villas, three Shore Club villas, and a number of Blue Cay Estate canal sales – all of which are under construction. Click on link to view full report.
1st Quarter Shows Continued Growth – With Strong 2nd Quarter Ahead
The first quarter of 2016 posted a significant increase of 19.95%, with $76M+ in gross dollar volume of listings sold over the $63.55M sold in Q1 last year. The Single Family and overall market, was carried by the Significant Sale of Oliver’s Cove Estate and adjacent parcel on Parrot Cay, which was listed and sold by TCSIR for $27,450,000. This transaction was the big equalizer in Quarter 1 and is the largest purely residential traction in TCI history. Aside from the raw numbers, the luxury market remains strong, with luxury and mega villas either just completed or in development and this trend should continue. We expect a strong second quarter, which has already started, and look forward to reporting to you on this in early July. Click on link to view full report.
Turks & Caicos Cementing Status as Leading Luxury Island Destination
It has been a sure and steady climb since TCI hit bottom in 2009 and 2010 following the Financial Crisis of September 2008. Led by resourceful and resilient private and public sectors, and especially by our world class, luxury hospitality operators, TCI is now a go-to luxury brand for those seeking the ideal combination of luxury with ease of access and use. As our luxury tourists of yesterday become our luxury property owners of today, and our luxury visitors today become our luxury property owners of tomorrow, Turks & Caicos is enjoying a bit of a sweet spot in both of these critical market sectors. This report will focus on the real estate component. In 2015, the Turks & Caicos registered a 18.88% year on year increase in dollar volume (from over $210M to over $250M) - based on local TCREA MLS statistics. Overall Sold Listings increased 18.56% (from 264 to 313) indicating quite a broad market improvement, while average price increased just .27% (from $797,707 to $799,876, but still well removed from average prices in the $500,000’s just five years ago. Click on link to view full report.
TCI Real Estate Market Growth Intensifies Through First Three Quarters of 2015
The accompanying graphs depict the tremendous improvement and validate the best market we have seen in over seven years. We are clearly experiencing a strong and rational market with high net worth buyers enthusiastically investing in vacation and long term investment property. Quality tourists over the past half-decade are today’s new wave of investors, along with many long term TCI property owners who continue to diversify and upgrade their real estate portfolios. Demand continues to improve for high quality beach and water front parcels, as evidenced by recent land sales on Leeward and Long Bay beach fronts. Scarcity is now in play for these types of lots, which is driving prices up. Demand for quality canal lots also continues to improve. The Hartling Group’s Shore Club, a stellar new project, will start accepting owners in early 2016 and has been an important market leader in an otherwise arid new condo development segment. Shore Club’s 2015 sales pace has been strong, though there is still good inventory remaining. With multiple projects in the pipeline, led by the much anticipated lifestyle branded hotel and condominium project on the old Toscana site and the proposed Ritz Carlton. We should see a new wave of condominium investment once these proposed projects are launched sometime in 2016 and beyond. Click on link to view full report.
TCI Real Estate Market Continues to Strengthen
The Turks & Caicos real estate market continues to show strong growth in all major segments. Over the first two quarters, the overall market is up 27.7% in $ volume over last year for the same time period. Sold listings are up 15% and overall average price is up around 10%, as purchasers continue to seek quality, well priced properties. Single Family Homes sales are up 26%, with a 9.7% increase in average price. Beach Enclave on International Drive finalized a number of villa sales which will not be reflected until the sales are posted late this year and early next year as villa construction is completed. Condominium sales are up 9.5% in $ volume, and a robust 35% in unit sales, but down 18% in average price ($741,457), signaling both a dearth in luxury inventory and welcomed broad performance in the middle end of the market. The Shore Club had a great 6 months with several condo and villa sales, but these sales will not be posted until construction completion in late 2015 and early 2016. The proposed Ritz developments and other potential pipeline projects for 2016 will provide needed new inventory which should lead to explosive growth in the condo segment. Land sales had increases across the board with a 65% increase in $ volume, 4% in unit sales and a 58% increase in average price, due to the sales of beachfront land parcels in Long Bay and Leeward. With strong pending business in the books and continued summer activity, this year is shaping up to be our best year since the bull market of 2005/6. Click on link to view full report.
TCI Real Estate’s Solid Performance
The Turks & Caicos Real Estate Market continued its solid performance in Q1 of this year, pretty much matching the performance of Q1 of 2014 at circa 61M in Closed Listings. There are, in addition, 39 Pending transactions in the MLS that should close later in 2015 or in early 2016, highlighted by the pending sale of the magnificent Leeward beachfront villa, Amazing Grace (listed at 17.9M). While the strength of luxury continues to be the story, we did see an 18% up-tick in units sold (78 vs. 66) which speaks to a broader recovery. This is consistent with a reduction of rental inventory and increased rent prices in both the short term and long term markets. The condo market saw healthy gains in both units sold (up 45%) and $ Volume (up 34%). The Single Family Home and Villa segment saw a 5.5% increase in units sold (19 vs. 18) but a dollar volume drop of 24%. These numbers should round nicely into shape once Amazing Grace closes and several villas at Beach Enclave are completed. Undeveloped Land closings increased by 13% in Sold Listings (26 vs. 23) and 14% in $ Volume (14.19M vs. 12.38M). Click on link to view full report.
TCI Real Estate’s Future Looking Bright
The 2014 Turks & Caicos real estate market went out with a bang, on the strength of a great December of production, highlighted by the sale of a major TCSIR listed development parcel in North West Point for $23M. This strong finish helped lead a 20% $ volume increase over last year ($210M vs. $174M) with a 17% increase in average price. Passing the $200M benchmark is a sign of market health and provides a strong basis for future growth once new development fires up within 2015. The Single Family Home Market finished up 95% in $ volume and up 78% in average price over last year ($66M vs. $34M and $1.17 vs. $656K) led by the sale of luxury villas. The Condo Market increased a modest 9% in $ Volume, but was up 25% in units sold (84), illustrating scarcity in luxury inventory and a broader market of listings being sold. Land Sales increased 6% in dollar volume (from $66M to $70M), as the market continues to sell through major development parcels. Click on link to view full report.
Strong Growth In The Residential Sector
We are pleased to report continued strong growth in the residential sector through Quarter 3 of 2014. Single Family Home and Villas lead the way with a 99% leap in $ Volume over Q3 last year on the strength of select luxury and ultra-luxury sales up to circa 13M. This strong performance is further evidence that the luxury tourists of Amanyara, Parrot Cay, Grace Bay Club, The Palms and others, along with private Villa renters, are converting to big time investors in TCI luxury real estate. This is a trend we should see continuing in the 3M and up strata. Condominium $ Volume sales increased 11%, with strong demand on ever shrinking quality inventory. The Grace Bay resorts continue to post strong occupancies and rates with phenomenal demand, as the TCI star continues to rise internationally. This improved performance has resulted in higher rental returns for owners and more expensive bookings for renters, thereby making ownership more attractive. With airlift continuing to improve, most resorts firmly established, and luxury villa experiences getting even better, we expect to see improving demand through 2015. Click on link to view full report.
New Development to Provide Market Endurance
Single Family Home/Villa sales continue to lead the market with a sustained increase during the first half of this year. The 115% $ Volume increase was led by the significant sales in the luxury villa market. Clearly, Turks and Caicos is now getting serious play in the ultra-luxury market. Condominium sales showed a modest increase of 4% in $ Volume. With no major land parcels transacting, land sales $ Volume declined significantly, which nearly balanced the overall real estate market to last year’s figures. The outlook for the remainder of the year is shining bright though with pending sales in excess of $65M (based on list price). This is good news for the Turks & Caicos Real Estate Market as the growth spurt that began in the fourth quarter of 2011 continues through year 2014 and beyond. As new developments start construction, the essential new inventory will be a welcome addition, providing new sales for market endurance. Click on link to view full report.
Sales Shrink Quality Inventory
The Turks & Caicos Real Estate Market continues to be led by the strong performance of the luxury sector. Condominium sales were up 82% over QI of last year in $ volume (from 9. 7M to 17.SM), with a 21 % increase in average price ($697K to $848K). Single Family Homes Sales were up a whopping 279% in $ volume (from 6.63M to 25.2M) with a 160% increase in average price (from 602K to 1.57M) led by the sale of Saving Grace on Leeward beach at 7M. While QI last year was a bit tepid in closings, its pipeline set the foundation for the sustained momentum. See Home/Villa Sales Graph and Condominium Sales Graph on page 4. We are seeing, over the past fiscal year, a shrinkage of quality inventory and improvement in demand has also led to a decrease in New Listings and Average Days on Market. The forecast for Q2 is also strong, with a number of luxury and ultra-luxury transactions looking to close in Q2. For sellers who have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the market to return, now would seem to be the time to list, and for buyers, there is a sense of urgency with quality inventory continuing to shrink. Click on link to view full report.
Another Record Year in Sales
As we ring in 2014, Turks & Caicos Sotheby's International Realty (TCSIR) celebrates another record year, and our fourth consecutive year in the number one market share position, on the strength of the production of a great team - a team that was fortified on January I, 2013 when TCSIR merged with Richard Sankar's Tropical Paradise Realty (TPR) to create an even stronger real estate brand. Highlights of the year include the significant listing and sale of the Leeward's Tranquillity site (4.9M), another beachfront site in Leeward (3.25M),Joe Grant's Cay (4.04M), Regent Grand Penthouse 70 I (3.9M), Grace Bay Club Estate FS0 I (3.825M), Grace Bay Club Penthouse Villa (3.1 M), Point Grace E302/3 (2.2M), Long Bay Villa (2.3M), the sale of a IO acre beachfront parcel on International Drive (3.75M), along with a Regent Palms Penthouse (2.7M) and the pending sale of Saving Grace in Leeward (listed at SM). Click on link to view full report.
TCI Real Estate Market Continues to Ride Momentum of Historic 2021
As we read through the headlines of each market report, since the tipping point at the end of 2011, one can sense how the momentum has escalated throughout the past decade. Turks & Caicos Islands is no longer a secret and has become the luxury standard for investors and vacation homeowners. These yearly successes have helped our country overcome the odds, firstly in 2017 with Hurricane Irma and then in 2020 with the Pandemic. We remained cautiously optimistic during both of those occasions and now look back with pride for our community, private sector and the TCI Government and the good guidance and support provided by all throughout.
So how does a real estate market follow such a monumental year in sales? We can look to the financial advisors for their analysis such as the Baker Tilly report, within our Caribbean region, with recent headlines of “Investors Bullish on Caribbean Tourism Boom”. The newly published survey for 2022 is a robust report that shows several indicators that both Banks and Non-Bank Lenders are confident that the Caribbean real estate and tourism growth will continue for the next 12 to 18 months. See link to Baker Tilly Survey in the report.
What does this mean for Turks & Caicos Islands? Thankfully, several developers have exciting projects on the forefront which will be launched very soon. New developments and emerging re-sale inventory will help bridge the gap to sustain our market’s decade-long momentum. The fast-paced sales cycles witnessed in 2021 and first quarter of 2022 have tapered off in some areas positioning buyers for a hopeful replenishment in depleted inventory.
Another indicator of our sustained and continued growth is Standard & Poor’s affirmation of our country’s sovereign credit rating for long-term bonds, denominated in both domestic and foreign currency, of BBB+. Furthermore, S&P believes the TCI will continue to adhere to prudent financial management and limit borrowing, and that fiscal reserve balances will increase during the next two years. See link to TCI Weekly News Article in the report.
The gauge where real estate agents have our finger on the pulse is with our clients and owners of TCI real estate. This is the barometer that is at the core and best defines the health and sustained growth of our market. With 85% of TCI real estate owners from North America, we can sense the ebb and flow with investor confidence within our market which is historically linked directly to the USA and NA.
Now for our current market report for the first half of 2022, the market stats are holding up quite well to last year’s historic run. Condominium sales continue to be strong with a sales volume increase of 42.54%, led by the Rock House completion, Ritz Carlton sales completions carryover and robust condominium re-sales. In 2021, buyers were focused on single family villas until inventory depleted, and now in 2022 they are concentrating on condominiums at all price ranges. The Overall Market finished a mere 10.5 % down over last years’ Q2 with $327,501,259 in total sales. Click link to view full report.
Real Estate Sales Continue To Soar
Turks & Caicos Real Estate continues to soar as 2022 is shaping up to be another strong year with buyer demand remaining solid in a fast-paced market with a lot of moving targets. Competition for desired properties is high with many listing agents managing multiple offers and off market properties selling without coming to market. Buyers know what they want, and sales agents are digging deep to find an appropriate investment or vacation home for their clients and customers.
Construction throughout Providenciales, even without large scale vertical development, at this time, is at an all-time high with new homes coming out of the ground in all community areas and stretching to the out islands. The biggest issue for builders and developers is trying to contain ever increasing construction costs hit hard by supply chain and inflationary issues.
In the forefront with new construction is the implementation of renewable energy which seems to be a top selling feature for new developments on island. Notable developers are on board with Renu Energy TCI, a renewable energy company that has also experience tremendous growth over the past three years with the installation of solar panels, tesla power walls and electric vehicles and accessories.
Fortis TCI has also been at work transforming the TCI energy landscape with the introduction of solar power programs to take advantage of this ample resource, C.O.R.E (Customer Owned Renewable Energy) and U.O.R.E. (Utility Owned Renewable Energy), with the latter program contracting several companies. The EV and charging station pilot project which was introduced in 2018 has started to catch on with several electric cars in use throughout and charging stations popping up across the island.
Leading the way in energy efficiency and various forms of renewable energy in Turks & Caicos was Green Revolution which was established in 2011. Since their formation the company has completed many projects both residential and commercial in scale, throughout the region. These projects are saving residents of the Caribbean hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
With sustainability on peoples’ minds and in the news, we are proud that our country has embraced the importance of these initiatives and developed a plan for our beautiful by nature islands. The recent signing of the TCI Climate Change Charter which took place on Earth Day this past Friday, April 22nd during the 1st Annual Climate Change Summit entitled “Only One Earth – Invest In Our Planet”, the private and public sectors came together to take action with this roadmap as a guide to help protect and safeguard our environmental assets. Click link to view full report.
2021 Turks & Caicos Real Estate - Exceeding Wildest Aspirations!
The headline for our 2020 Year End Report read: “2020 Turks & Caicos Real Estate Market Closes Like a Champ”. Then, with each quarterly report throughout this past year, we witnessed record breaking sales and it became clear that we were heading for a historic year.
And what to say about a supernova year where our annual sales volume increased 158.5% from $290M to $751M!! Where Single Family Homes accounted for a whopping $369M, up 137% over last year’s $155M, with average prices up 30%, from $1.72M to $2.25M. And where Condominium sales, led by the completion of The Ritz-Carlton, improved by 282%, from $59M to $225M, with a 33.5% increase in average price from $1.03M to $1.38M!
Impressive TCI Market Continues Through Q3
Building on the record breaking first half of the year, Q3, historically our slowest quarter, gained a whopping 319% over Q3 last year ($158,905,323 vs. $37,891,750), with year-to-date sales volume up over 150% over the first three quarters of last year ($496,710,829 vs. $198,330,657). These numbers represent historic events, of course, and with Canada and other countries now open for travel, we expect a strong fourth quarter with the caveat that all this great sales volume is resulting in constriction of inventory.
Led by a slew of trophy sales, and luxury villas (managed and standalone), single family homes have accounted for 56% of the total market y-t-d ($280,874,064 with an average price of $2,246,993) up 161% and 17% respectively. Condos account for 19.8% of the total market ($98,745,262) up 196% y-t-d). This number will normalize as new development condos at Ritz Carlton Grace Bay and Rock House are posted as closed. Raw land sales also displayed strong performance and have accounted for 21% of the total market and is up 123% year-on-year with an increase of 45% in average price from $397,363 to $576,371. Significant sales in Q3 included Coral Pavilion $15M, Footprints on the Beach $8.1M, Beach Enclave North Shore V4 $5.5M, Beach Enclave Long Bay V6 $5.45 and Hawk’s Nest Villa $2.77M. Click link to view full report.
Turks & Caicos Real Estate Sales Continue at a Breakneck Pace!
The TCI real estate market is seemingly ‘too hot to handle’ as we witness yet another record-breaking quarter in sales volume along with pending/under construction sales not recorded within this amount! This first half of the year has just closed out with a staggering $328M in sales volume which is normally TCI’s yearly sales volume – in a very strong year! That’s a 105% increase over last years 2nd Quarter with an average price increase of 26%. All segments of the market saw increases contributing to this incredible spike in sales. Significant sales noted in this 2ndQ were, Turtle Tail Estate $20.25M, Villa Salacia $16M, Casa Tremer $7.995M, and The Estate at Grace Bay Club G504 $5M. The tourism industry is also witnessing record numbers in occupancy during this time as Turks & Caicos continues to flourish and to fulfill its destiny as a leading and premiere upscale destination in the Caribbean. The resilient Turks & Caicos real estate and tourism market has sustained economic growth and real estate sales for the past eight years, and we expect to see continued growth, with new and exciting projects in the pipeline.Click link to view full report.
TCI Real Estate Market Ascends To The Next Level
Following a breathtaking fourth quarter of 2020, the TCI real estate market has just closed an historical quarter of business with nearly $128,000,000 in closed transactions, up 60% over the same period last year with average price increases across each sector. What’s more, there are over $463,000,000 (you read that right!) in pending and conditional transactions and this leaves out another circa $100M in new development sales at the Ritz-Carlton Residences (set to open this summer), South Bank, Beach Enclave, Rock House, The Strand and other new Development projects. There is a lot to unpack. First, it is clear for the post-COVID world that ultra-luxury and luxury markets have fully endorsed Turks & Caicos Islands as a preferred warm weather destination. Also, a vacation property is now much more than simply a lifestyle investment, but a life investment and often an integral part of work, play and community, contributing to taking our market to the next level.
2020 Turks & Caicos Real Estate Market Closes Like A Champ
The 2020 TCI real estate market performed better than we ever could have hoped for in the context of COVID–19, a four-month country-wide shutdown and stringent travel requirements. And I guess our task in this space is to seek to answer the question, as set forth by the great David Byrne of Talking Heads: “Well, how did we get here?!” Let’s start abroad: After the stock market cratered, it began to recover quickly and it became clear this was not a rerun of the 2008 financial crisis. Soon thereafter, we witnessed affluent buyers starting to move on luxury vacation property from Vail to Aspen, and from the Hamptons to South Florida. COVID–19 was triggering the opposite of the financial crash of September 2008, in that luxury real estate was highly desired by those looking for easy-to-access, safe-haven retreats away from urban areas and primary homes. With airports and resorts closed, and most commercial planes not flying, the luxury market was, quite urgently, seeking out real estate! Click link to view full report.
Light At The End of The Tunnel
3Q Sales Show Steady Balance With Positive Year End Predictions
There is light at the end of the tunnel as we creep back to a somewhat normal life, albeit carefully, so as not to unleash further closures as parts of the world are now experiencing for a second time. The measures put into place have helped secure the health and welfare of our people here in the Turks & Caicos Islands and the steady stream of visitors fortunate enough to arrive over the past couple of months have been pleasantly surprised at the consistent protocols throughout the businesses on island. The atmosphere and the beautiful, uncrowded beaches make for a very refreshing place to rest and revive your spirit through this time. It is no surprise that real estate inquiries are streaming in and sales are continuing at a regular pace. Last year marked a record year in real estate sales so it’s humbling to compare to those numbers, however, the 3Q graphs for 2020 are indicating a constant and strong balance. It is noteworthy that, of the $147M in pending sales on MLS, we expect $80M of these deals to close out before the end of this year which would bring the projected annual total sales for 2020 to $273M, approximately $10M higher than our 2018 year end sales. Click link to view full report.
Defying the Odds - First Half of 2020 Up Over Same Period Last Year
In late March, our world, and everything in it, came to a screeching halt, as Turks & Caicos Islands closed its borders to tourists and visitors through the end of June. Resorts, restaurants, airports and businesses closed and real estate deals, after a strong Q1, were either canceled or deferred.
However, unlike the aftermath of the financial crisis of September 2009, where we had weak fundamentals and luxury buyers disappeared, the opposite has occurred, with luxury and other buyers remaining in the game and continuing to shop and purchase real estate. Reports from our Sotheby’s International Realty network echo similar strength and trends in the US and Canada, and many countries internationally. In this regard, our market demand has shown much greater resilience and further, there has not been a flight to list property. Click link to view full report.
1ST QUARTER 2020 CLOSES OUT ON A HIGH – PRE-COVID-19
As many of us are forced to slow down our lives and reflect inward, we are grateful for many things that this unprecedented time has brought us to evaluate, including of course our families, friends, communities and a country that has put all of our people first with their proactive decisions during this health crisis. We are further grateful to our TCI Government leaders, HE Premier Cartwright-Robinson, HE Governor Dakin, the Ministry of Health and their teams for their thoughtful leadership and communication.
As we begin to accept and absorb our new reality, we are advancing our way back to business activity and effectively working as a team and with clients and customers, and there are even new transactions in process, furthered by the recent reduction in Stamp Duty by 50%, which has provided a welcome trigger for short-term activity. Click link to view full report.
Turks & Caicos Real Estate Closes The Decade With Record Shattering Year On the Strength of Luxury Villa Sales
Turks & Caicos real estate sales closed out the second decade of the 21st-century with a bang, after entering it tepidly in 2010, as the following graphs demonstrates that villa sales represented around 52% of the total market in 2019. Circa $219.7M of the record $334.7M dollar volume were villa sales with a stunning average price point of $1.98M. This incredibly impressive performance speaks volumes for the power of the Turks and Caicos Islands brand, our private and public sector, and our wonderful investors, homeowners and visitors. If the past ten years can make history as our decade of the luxury villas, what will the next ten years’ headline be? With the pending completion of the Ritz-Carlton Residences on Grace Bay, Rock House under construction, and with other vertical development in the pipeline such as The Bight Hotel and next phase for Point Grace, amongst others, we project a balancing of villa and condominium development throughout this next decade with a sprinkling of mixed-use developments. TCI has tremendous momentum and a lot of potential growth as we remain humble and grateful for our wonderful position in the Caribbean and the greater region. Click link to view full report.
Impressive Third Quarter Leads TCI Market Towards Record Year
Led by our record-breaking sale of The Residence on Parrot Cay at $27,000,000, Q3 2019 posted an impressive gain over 2018 (up 38.8% from $64,785,600 to $89,918,500). Historically, Q3 is our sleepiest quarter, but it has become apparent over the past few years that TCI is now indeed a year-round market for both tourism and real estate, and not just a seasonal one, with strong summers and improving shoulder month performance. Overall, the market after three quarters is up 16.47% over last year in $ Volume ($241,145,500 vs. $207,048,195). This dollar volume is more than the market did in all of 2017! Average price is up 30% from $692,469 to $903,167. Click link to view full report.
Real Estate Sales Continue On An Upward Trend!
Turks & Caicos Islands, the shining star of the Caribbean, continues to shine brightly as we see a steady influx of investor growth and activity in new development. The infrastructure improvements and ongoing utility upgrades will further improve to serve the luxury standards now set by our luxury home-grown brands and with the most recent entrance of world renowned brands such as Ritz-Carlton and Andaz. The construction industry has been busy for the past five years as we have witnessed villa projects and new homes being built on recently sold land parcels. In addition, high end land purchasers who desired to build from scratch, or who could not find a home/villa that fit their needs, have embarked on some amazing new homes and estate homes, relying on the expertise of local architects, builders and consultants, proceeded to build their own custom dream vacation homes. There is evidence of this impressive array of private development throughout the Turks & Caicos, especially in the luxury sector, as the islands continue to grow as the destination of choice for many real estate investors and visitors. Click on link to view full report.
Real Estate Development - A Changing Landscape
Turks & Caicos Islands is steeped in history yet so young in its real estate development with early progress beginning only 50 years ago. During each passing decade we have seen a gradual change in the landscape of our islands. Some of the first aerial photographs were taken when Astronaut John Glen drifted overhead and eventually landed near Grand Turk in 1962. Real estate development followed this momentous event in 1966 with the construction of the airstrip, building of roadways and the historic Third Turtle Inn. Each decade has brought a new dimension and the proliferation of good growth and development. The 80’s and 90’s brought the financial industry, utility companies, and other infrastructure along with small hotels and inns, the first 3-storey condominium projects, daily air service from Miami on American Airlines and the country’s only golf club, Provo Golf & Country Club. The start of the 2nd millennium saw the formation of the Turks & Caicos Real Estate Association (‘TCREA’) and in addition, the decade brought an astounding thirteen new, 5 to 7-storey condominium developments to the Grace Bay waterfront and truly opened up the doors for tourism with increased air services from multiple destinations. This surge in vertical development set the stage for the ‘now’ world-renowned Grace Bay beach, which continues to be the main tourist hub in Turks & Caicos. Click on link to view full report.
An Overnight sensation . . . After 30 Years
Just recently, my good friend Larry Klein, long-time producer of “Dick Clark’s Good Rockin’ Eve” and the “American Music Awards”, asked me how Turks & Caicos in its present state differed from my expectations when I first made land fall in 1989 – a couple of years before we met - and Dick, as our first “real” celebrity, set out to build his home on Taylor Bay. It was a great question, and my answer was pretty much as follows: “I never had any doubt that Turks & Caicos would find success because of our solid fundamentals, such as proximity to Miami, unsurpassed beaches and waters, climate, people, form of government, US currency, and English as the spoken language. What I never anticipated though, was that TCI would become such a desired luxury destination”. I just could not foresee how rapidly our islands could advance over three decades to support a luxury vacation market, which is a great credit to our people, and industry and government leaders. Today, nearly 30 years later, TCI has become perhaps the hottest luxury tourist destination brand. Why? Well, in a nutshell, TCI provides an unrivalled blend of ease of access and use, with fantastic luxury resort properties – hotels, condos and managed stand-alone villas - along with top flight infrastructure, services and amenities. With major airline access from Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Atlanta, Charlotte NC, Atlanta, DC, Philadelphia, NYC, Newark NJ, Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Dallas and the UK, and major private jet traffic into our two state of the art private air terminals, we are quite easy to get to. And, once you get here, it’s easy to get around and find your way. Nothing is too far, and inter/intra island land, sea and air transportation are excellent. Click on link to view full report.
Third Quarter Shows Real Estate Thriving Through 2018
We are pleased to show the 3rd Quarter Market Report with a continuing robust and strong output throughout 2018. We expect this performance to strengthen into 2019 and beyond as the new villa developments that have sold out, namely Beach Enclave Long Bay, The Shore Club Villas, and Blue Cay Estate, will be posted into the MLS system as their construction comes to an end. Meanwhile, we will announce new real estate investment opportunities coming to market this November and in early February. These new developments will offer a variety of property sizes, price points and locations. This much needed new inventory comes at an optimal time as the popularity of the Turks & Caicos Islands lifestyle continues to be discovered. The following graphs detail the overall performance, each residential sector and vacant land sales. We welcome you to contact us for further detail. Click on link to view full report.
Second Quarter Shows Sold Growth Through First Half of 2018
Turks & Caicos real estate continues to outperform most other countries in our jurisdiction. Visitors and owners from the US, Canada and beyond have discovered and coveted our award-winning beaches and island community, with many echoing the sentiment that they have found in the Turks & Caicos Islands a unique and highly accessible blend of compelling lifestyle, quality homes and properties, services and amenities unlike any other island chain in the region. There are several investment and lifestyle benefits that many have now discovered adding to the growth and development of the islands. We are pleased to report that the five villas within the Beach Enclave Long Bay development are now sold and only two villas remain available out of the ten villas offered at Beach Enclave Grace Bay. The six beachfront villas at The Shore Club on Long Bay are all sold or reserved as Shore Club celebrates over a year of full operation since opening early 2017. The developers of Gansevoort Villas in Turtle Tail have recently added a 7th villa, Villa 5107, which will be the final villa of their first phase. Five of seven villas are now successfully completed, and six of seven sold, with only the newly introduced pre-construction offering remaining at $4.4 Million. The Gansevoort Villas will also soon be introducing a new villa design within a nearby phase II location which will be detailed in our next newsletter. Blue Cay Estate, located on the Leeward Channel, has successfully sold and reserved all of the 16 villas in their offering to date. All of these newly constructed villas will be posted as sold on our TCREA MLS system once they are fully completed. Click on link to view full report.
First Quarter Off To Strong Start Led By New Construction Luxury Villas
The first quarter of this year got off to a flying start with a gross dollar volume of $63,056,396 vs. $54,330,769 last year - a 16% increase. While unit numbers declined from 90 to 70 (or 22%), the average price increased by a whopping 49% margin from $603,675 to $900,763. Over the 1st Quarter, Single-Family Home sales led the way, with dollar volume up 53% - from $25,308,369 to $38,742,996. The average selling price was up 39.77% - from $1,205,160 to $1,684,478. Included in this sales volume, at the luxury end, were the sales of Amanyara Villa for $5.65M, Tranquility Lane Villa for $4.6M and newly constructed villas - The Shore Club Villa 3 for $5.885M, The Dunes Villa 2 for $5.095M, and Blue Cay Estate Villa 13 and Villa 3 at $2.5M and $2.6M which are now fully completed and occupied by the new owners. Click on link to view full report.
TCI Strong Indeed!
As we recently reported, the TCI response to Irma has been nothing short of inspiring. Private and public sectors, resorts, utilities, charitable groups, and countless individuals joined forces and did a sensational job on clean-up and renewal, and while some work remains to be done in a few of our residential communities, Turks & Caicos has unquestionably proven itself as a world class destination with first world commercial building standards and infrastructure. It is hugely impressive that, in the context of Irma, Q4 performance was pretty much level with last year’s numbers, and that the year-end performance finished a mere 4% down from last year ($233M vs. $243M). And, with over $80M in Pending/Under Contract transactions, strong buyer psychology, sales activity and new development percolating, 2018 is setting up to be a great year. Certainly, US stock market performance and new tax policy, in addition to good worldwide economic fundamentals, will help our luxury market, and some will likely take some chips out of the stock market and look to invest in luxury international real estate. Click on link to view full report.
Business Back To Normal – Most Resorts Now Open
Life in the Caribbean of course is highlighted by year-round beautiful tropical weather. However, we all know that occasionally the amazing weather can extend to the other extreme, namely a hurricane or tropical storm. Through the years the world has been faced with many interruptions by Mother Nature, and this will never change. What has changed is our ability to be prepared for such extreme weather patterns by building solid structures and protecting ourselves should we be within the storm’s path. After Hurricanes Gilbert and Hugo narrowly missed us in 1988 and 1989 respectively, the Government of the Turks & Caicos Islands, with great foresight, established a new building code that would protect the future investments of our community and our countries’ many developers. These new building codes, and our infrastructure (power, water, communication, roads et. al.) were tested with the most recent storm, Hurricane Irma, and we are pleased and relieved that the new construction and “first world” infrastructure stood up remarkably well to the category 5 winds that were unleashed. Was there damage? Of course, but it is mostly all repairable. We are deeply thankful that there was no loss of life. We are also very thankful to all of the charity organizations that came to our aid and for the response teams that quickly repaired the power and water systems. Click on link to view full report.
Second Quarter Regains Momentum Led By Luxury Villa Sales
After a soft 4th Quarter in 2016 and slow 1st Quarter of 2017, which we largely attribute to the US election, this 2nd Quarter of 2017 has shown significant improvement with the year-to-date numbers closing the gap on last year’s year-to-date numbers. The sales volume was led by the steady sales in Single Family Homes with sold listings up by 25% and an increase in dollar volume from $57M to $60M. As expressed in our previous market report, Turks & Caicos Islands has perhaps the finest inventory of new luxury villa developments in the Caribbean, and this is translating to increased sales in this segment. The Home/Villa segment has a stunning backlog of circa $200M of pending sales which are preconstruction or under construction homes that are not included in the graphs within this report. These sales will be included within the next few years once the construction schedules of these homes complete. Click on link to view full report.
The Real Estate Market Remains Steady
This 1st Quarter of 2017 shows 5% more in sold listings but with a 33% lower dollar volume due to longer closing times causing a soft 4th Quarter in 2016 and the fact that the 1st Quarter of 2016 recorded a significant sale in Parrot Cay of $27.5 million. There is currently over $90 million in pending and conditional sales recorded in our TCREA MLS system and as these pending sales and new sales close throughout this year the gap in dollar volume will soon diminish. We remain confident that our market will have a strong 2017 when all is said and done. Click on link to view full report.
Strong Fundamentals Lead TCI Evolution
Well, the word is out – really out! From mentions on late night TV talk shows, to articles in high profile magazines, and postings on celebrity Instagram accounts, Turks and Caicos is generating strong buzz as the destination for cool, hassle free, luxury vacations. This recognition has translated to strong growth in tourism and real estate. This buzz and growth, however, would not be possible without strong fundamentals such as quality beaches, water and climate, quality tourism and real estate product, ease of access and use. Our success of course begins with the quality of our beaches and water, and climate. Grace Bay is acknowledged, with multiple awards, as the finest stretch of beach in the world. But this belies the depth and scope of our beaches, whether it be Long Bay, Sapodilla Bay, Taylor Bay, Babalua Beach, Thompson’s Cove Beach, Parrot Cay or the many other habited and inhabited beaches in our archipelago. In fact, TCI comprises 230 miles of some of the world’s finest beachfront. Our multi–hued, magical waters are the subject of thousands of inspiring photos, whether it be the deep blue beyond the reef to the lighter turquoise of the Caicos bank. There is a shade and texture for everyone. And finally, our warm, sunny, low humidity, low rainfall climate is ideal for year-round vacationing. Click on link to view full report.
TCI Real Estate Market Healthy, Sturdy And Consistent
Rather than focusing on the specifics of Q3 of this year, it seems like a good time to emphasize that our market has grown in a strong and rational manner over the past several years. As the represented graphs illustrate, our key market segments have shown a very healthy growth pattern, with the wavering nature of raw land being the outlier. This outlier is really caused by dearth of inventory in the market place and by the fact that $ volume in any given year is often predicated on one or two home-run commercial sales, which still could occur by the end of 2016. Click on link to view full report.
2nd Quarter 2016 – Pending Deals of $129 Million
While the second quarter of 2016 posted a slight drop from last year’s dollar volumes - following a 1st Quarter increase - Pending Sales (Under Contract and Conditional transactions) are at their highest levels since the boom of the mid 2000’s. The TCREA MLS system is currently showing Pending transactions of $22 Million in Land, $6.5 Million in Condos, and $101 Million in Homes/Villas, for a total of over $129 Million for the remainder of this year, including some pre-construction villa sales that will close in 2017. These include several of the sold out Beach Enclave North Shore villas, which has three completed villas and several others nearing completion, and the initial sales at Beach Enclave Long Bay, which is breaking ground in the Fall. Further included in these Pending deals are Villa 2 at the Dunes, the first few Wymara Villas, three Shore Club villas, and a number of Blue Cay Estate canal sales – all of which are under construction. Click on link to view full report.
1st Quarter Shows Continued Growth – With Strong 2nd Quarter Ahead
The first quarter of 2016 posted a significant increase of 19.95%, with $76M+ in gross dollar volume of listings sold over the $63.55M sold in Q1 last year. The Single Family and overall market, was carried by the Significant Sale of Oliver’s Cove Estate and adjacent parcel on Parrot Cay, which was listed and sold by TCSIR for $27,450,000. This transaction was the big equalizer in Quarter 1 and is the largest purely residential traction in TCI history. Aside from the raw numbers, the luxury market remains strong, with luxury and mega villas either just completed or in development and this trend should continue. We expect a strong second quarter, which has already started, and look forward to reporting to you on this in early July. Click on link to view full report.
Turks & Caicos Cementing Status as Leading Luxury Island Destination
It has been a sure and steady climb since TCI hit bottom in 2009 and 2010 following the Financial Crisis of September 2008. Led by resourceful and resilient private and public sectors, and especially by our world class, luxury hospitality operators, TCI is now a go-to luxury brand for those seeking the ideal combination of luxury with ease of access and use. As our luxury tourists of yesterday become our luxury property owners of today, and our luxury visitors today become our luxury property owners of tomorrow, Turks & Caicos is enjoying a bit of a sweet spot in both of these critical market sectors. This report will focus on the real estate component. In 2015, the Turks & Caicos registered a 18.88% year on year increase in dollar volume (from over $210M to over $250M) - based on local TCREA MLS statistics. Overall Sold Listings increased 18.56% (from 264 to 313) indicating quite a broad market improvement, while average price increased just .27% (from $797,707 to $799,876, but still well removed from average prices in the $500,000’s just five years ago. Click on link to view full report.
TCI Real Estate Market Growth Intensifies Through First Three Quarters of 2015
The accompanying graphs depict the tremendous improvement and validate the best market we have seen in over seven years. We are clearly experiencing a strong and rational market with high net worth buyers enthusiastically investing in vacation and long term investment property. Quality tourists over the past half-decade are today’s new wave of investors, along with many long term TCI property owners who continue to diversify and upgrade their real estate portfolios. Demand continues to improve for high quality beach and water front parcels, as evidenced by recent land sales on Leeward and Long Bay beach fronts. Scarcity is now in play for these types of lots, which is driving prices up. Demand for quality canal lots also continues to improve. The Hartling Group’s Shore Club, a stellar new project, will start accepting owners in early 2016 and has been an important market leader in an otherwise arid new condo development segment. Shore Club’s 2015 sales pace has been strong, though there is still good inventory remaining. With multiple projects in the pipeline, led by the much anticipated lifestyle branded hotel and condominium project on the old Toscana site and the proposed Ritz Carlton. We should see a new wave of condominium investment once these proposed projects are launched sometime in 2016 and beyond. Click on link to view full report.
TCI Real Estate Market Continues to Strengthen
The Turks & Caicos real estate market continues to show strong growth in all major segments. Over the first two quarters, the overall market is up 27.7% in $ volume over last year for the same time period. Sold listings are up 15% and overall average price is up around 10%, as purchasers continue to seek quality, well priced properties. Single Family Homes sales are up 26%, with a 9.7% increase in average price. Beach Enclave on International Drive finalized a number of villa sales which will not be reflected until the sales are posted late this year and early next year as villa construction is completed. Condominium sales are up 9.5% in $ volume, and a robust 35% in unit sales, but down 18% in average price ($741,457), signaling both a dearth in luxury inventory and welcomed broad performance in the middle end of the market. The Shore Club had a great 6 months with several condo and villa sales, but these sales will not be posted until construction completion in late 2015 and early 2016. The proposed Ritz developments and other potential pipeline projects for 2016 will provide needed new inventory which should lead to explosive growth in the condo segment. Land sales had increases across the board with a 65% increase in $ volume, 4% in unit sales and a 58% increase in average price, due to the sales of beachfront land parcels in Long Bay and Leeward. With strong pending business in the books and continued summer activity, this year is shaping up to be our best year since the bull market of 2005/6. Click on link to view full report.
TCI Real Estate’s Solid Performance
The Turks & Caicos Real Estate Market continued its solid performance in Q1 of this year, pretty much matching the performance of Q1 of 2014 at circa 61M in Closed Listings. There are, in addition, 39 Pending transactions in the MLS that should close later in 2015 or in early 2016, highlighted by the pending sale of the magnificent Leeward beachfront villa, Amazing Grace (listed at 17.9M). While the strength of luxury continues to be the story, we did see an 18% up-tick in units sold (78 vs. 66) which speaks to a broader recovery. This is consistent with a reduction of rental inventory and increased rent prices in both the short term and long term markets. The condo market saw healthy gains in both units sold (up 45%) and $ Volume (up 34%). The Single Family Home and Villa segment saw a 5.5% increase in units sold (19 vs. 18) but a dollar volume drop of 24%. These numbers should round nicely into shape once Amazing Grace closes and several villas at Beach Enclave are completed. Undeveloped Land closings increased by 13% in Sold Listings (26 vs. 23) and 14% in $ Volume (14.19M vs. 12.38M). Click on link to view full report.
TCI Real Estate’s Future Looking Bright
The 2014 Turks & Caicos real estate market went out with a bang, on the strength of a great December of production, highlighted by the sale of a major TCSIR listed development parcel in North West Point for $23M. This strong finish helped lead a 20% $ volume increase over last year ($210M vs. $174M) with a 17% increase in average price. Passing the $200M benchmark is a sign of market health and provides a strong basis for future growth once new development fires up within 2015. The Single Family Home Market finished up 95% in $ volume and up 78% in average price over last year ($66M vs. $34M and $1.17 vs. $656K) led by the sale of luxury villas. The Condo Market increased a modest 9% in $ Volume, but was up 25% in units sold (84), illustrating scarcity in luxury inventory and a broader market of listings being sold. Land Sales increased 6% in dollar volume (from $66M to $70M), as the market continues to sell through major development parcels. Click on link to view full report.
Strong Growth In The Residential Sector
We are pleased to report continued strong growth in the residential sector through Quarter 3 of 2014. Single Family Home and Villas lead the way with a 99% leap in $ Volume over Q3 last year on the strength of select luxury and ultra-luxury sales up to circa 13M. This strong performance is further evidence that the luxury tourists of Amanyara, Parrot Cay, Grace Bay Club, The Palms and others, along with private Villa renters, are converting to big time investors in TCI luxury real estate. This is a trend we should see continuing in the 3M and up strata. Condominium $ Volume sales increased 11%, with strong demand on ever shrinking quality inventory. The Grace Bay resorts continue to post strong occupancies and rates with phenomenal demand, as the TCI star continues to rise internationally. This improved performance has resulted in higher rental returns for owners and more expensive bookings for renters, thereby making ownership more attractive. With airlift continuing to improve, most resorts firmly established, and luxury villa experiences getting even better, we expect to see improving demand through 2015. Click on link to view full report.
New Development to Provide Market Endurance
Single Family Home/Villa sales continue to lead the market with a sustained increase during the first half of this year. The 115% $ Volume increase was led by the significant sales in the luxury villa market. Clearly, Turks and Caicos is now getting serious play in the ultra-luxury market. Condominium sales showed a modest increase of 4% in $ Volume. With no major land parcels transacting, land sales $ Volume declined significantly, which nearly balanced the overall real estate market to last year’s figures. The outlook for the remainder of the year is shining bright though with pending sales in excess of $65M (based on list price). This is good news for the Turks & Caicos Real Estate Market as the growth spurt that began in the fourth quarter of 2011 continues through year 2014 and beyond. As new developments start construction, the essential new inventory will be a welcome addition, providing new sales for market endurance. Click on link to view full report.
Sales Shrink Quality Inventory
The Turks & Caicos Real Estate Market continues to be led by the strong performance of the luxury sector. Condominium sales were up 82% over QI of last year in $ volume (from 9. 7M to 17.SM), with a 21 % increase in average price ($697K to $848K). Single Family Homes Sales were up a whopping 279% in $ volume (from 6.63M to 25.2M) with a 160% increase in average price (from 602K to 1.57M) led by the sale of Saving Grace on Leeward beach at 7M. While QI last year was a bit tepid in closings, its pipeline set the foundation for the sustained momentum. See Home/Villa Sales Graph and Condominium Sales Graph on page 4. We are seeing, over the past fiscal year, a shrinkage of quality inventory and improvement in demand has also led to a decrease in New Listings and Average Days on Market. The forecast for Q2 is also strong, with a number of luxury and ultra-luxury transactions looking to close in Q2. For sellers who have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the market to return, now would seem to be the time to list, and for buyers, there is a sense of urgency with quality inventory continuing to shrink. Click on link to view full report.
Another Record Year in Sales
As we ring in 2014, Turks & Caicos Sotheby's International Realty (TCSIR) celebrates another record year, and our fourth consecutive year in the number one market share position, on the strength of the production of a great team - a team that was fortified on January I, 2013 when TCSIR merged with Richard Sankar's Tropical Paradise Realty (TPR) to create an even stronger real estate brand. Highlights of the year include the significant listing and sale of the Leeward's Tranquillity site (4.9M), another beachfront site in Leeward (3.25M),Joe Grant's Cay (4.04M), Regent Grand Penthouse 70 I (3.9M), Grace Bay Club Estate FS0 I (3.825M), Grace Bay Club Penthouse Villa (3.1 M), Point Grace E302/3 (2.2M), Long Bay Villa (2.3M), the sale of a IO acre beachfront parcel on International Drive (3.75M), along with a Regent Palms Penthouse (2.7M) and the pending sale of Saving Grace in Leeward (listed at SM). Click on link to view full report.