Another Caribbean island real estate sector is calling the attention of the international market. Trinidad and Tobago, the energy rich giant appears to be rating higher in the minds of prospective foreign buyers looking for security in the midst of the global economic uncertainty, but this does not come without challenges.
According to one of the top real estate houses in the twin island republic, Trinidad’s housing market rose rapidly over the past two decades as the price of these commodities skyrocketed.
In a market review of the Trinidad real estate sector, with a US based publication, Jean de Meillac, General Manager of the Trinidad and Tobago office at Terra Caribbean Realty said, “There was a terrific amount of revenue coming in, and it spread right through the economy, the growing oil business encouraged other industries, and many international companies sent workers to Trinidad and Tobago, all of whom needed housing.”
But just as many other real estate sectors across the world witnessed some unsteadiness in 2008, so did the twin island republic.
According to the Trinidad Terra boss, Trinidad and Tobago’s real estate market began to falter in mid-2008.
The US publication states that as of the first half of 2009, the median price of three-bedroom homes — an average sized home, according to Avinash Ramlogan, an economist at the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago — fell from around TT$950,00 2008 (US $151,515) to TT $856,000 (US $136,523), according to the Central Bank.
More importantly a segment of the market which has traditionally performed well for other Caribbean destinations with a development real estate industry has seen a fall in prices in Trinidad. The Terra executive estimates that in the mid- to high-end of the real estate market, prices are down between 18 and 23 percent from their peak in early 2008.
Looking to industry experts in Trinidad and Tobago, the US publications offers the opinion of another real estate firm. Denise Gomes-John, Managing Director at Syntegral Consulting, a real estate firm in Port of Spain contends, “Housing prices in Trinidad and Tobago vary widely; a two-bedroom in a well-regarded neighborhood — such as Maraval or Westmoorings, near the capital of Port of Spain — starts at around two million Trinidad and Tobago dollars ($318,979). Waterfront properties are the most expensive, she added.
In dissecting who are the main property buyers in Trinidad and Tobago it was highlighted that the majority of foreign buyers in the twin island republic are from the United States, Canada and Britain, many of them of Trinidadian descent. There are also buyers from Venezuela, which is about seven miles away, and India. Most foreign workers, however, are renters. Trinidad is more of a residential island, unlike Tobago, which attracts more tourists and has more of a vacation feel.
