Investing in Cayman Islands Real Estate

For an independent guide on what is happening in the property market in the Cayman Islands please see facts and figures as quoted by the Cayman Islands Lands and Survey department and also the Cayman Islands Real Estate Brokers Association.

Overview - Population & Property Needs

The influx of expatriate workers is having a significant impact on the Cayman Islands population. While the official population is estimated to be 84,000, a more realistic figure is at least 90,000. This is because the official population figure does not include people on temporary work permits and overseas property owners who arrive and leave throughout the year.

In 2022, the breakdown of the population was assessed as follows, 40,957 living in George Town, 16,957 in Bodden Town, 2,274 in East End, 2,110 in North Side and 16,943 in West Bay. 2,304 reside in in the Sister Islands. Of note, two thirds of the population in George Town was estimated to be non-caymanian, and for the first time, Caymanians made up less than 50% of the total population.

So what does this all mean when looking through the 'varifocal' lens of the Islands' real estate market? In a nutshell, whilst technically it's still a seller's market, and demand remained high due to the population increase, in 2023 various factors have contributed to a cooling of the market's pandemic era and the aggressive upward trending. With a bit of deeper analysis, it's actually more of a mixed bag of results. Different reputable entities' analytics below offer different perspectives, but ultimately draw a similar conclusion.

In the initial half of 2023, the Cayman Islands Real Estate Brokers Association (CIREBA) reported a total of 381 sales, contrasting with 549 sales during the corresponding period of 2022. This reflects a notable decline, with condo sales down by 44% and single-family home sales by 23%. But, the average listing prices rose by 18% in 2023 compared to the preceding year. By mid-2023, the average price for residential homes surged by 20.2% compared to mid-2022. (Take note: these statistics exclusively pertain to sales facilitated through CIREBA and do not represent all transactions, more like about 70% of them.)

Based on this, Cayman is currently experiencing a decrease in transaction volume, but not in the value of properties, which continues to rise. (The reality is that on an island, the availability of properties offering an ocean view is limited; residents naturally prefer to reside close to the ocean. Consequently, prices for oceanfront properties remain buoyant.) This trend was particularly noticeable at the beginning of the year when the value of active listings within CIREBA reached its peak in history. By June 2023, the total value of 1,600 active listings exceeded CI$3.355 billion, compared to 1,555 listings valued at CI$2.766 billion at the same juncture in 2022.

One more benchmark to confirming this post-2023 season market analysis, is based on the Cayman Islands Government's Lands and Survey database, which reveals a significant decline in open market property transfers compared to the previous year and a substantial drop from the peak in 2021. The total number of transfers decreased by 15.6% from 2022 and 40% from the peak in 2021, with 1,638 transfers registered. This decline also impacted the total sales value for 2023, which amounted to CI$953 million, down 11.8% from 2022 and 35.4% from the peak in 2021. But...once again, despite the decrease in sales volume and total dollar amount, the average value of a property sale slightly increased to just under CI$581,000, showing a 4.5% increase from 2022 and a 7.6% increase from 2021. It's worth noting that Lands and Survey figures represent all transactions, but there may be delays in updating of their database.

Click for what's next for the market in 2024?

Homes
According to Charterland's annual property report, analysis of this area of the real estate landscape (as with much of Cayman's), is difficult to conclusively illustrate, because the market is small and a singular anomalous transaction can greatly effect the average or trend. Despite this, Snug Harbour, considered an upper-middle housing market area, saw three single-family dwelling sales in 2023, up from two in 2022 but down from eight in 2021. The average sale price per square foot in 2023 increased by 48% compared to 2022, reaching CI$527 per square foot. All three sales in 2023 exceeded CI$1 million, marking the first time this threshold was surpassed for all properties in the area in a year. Notably, all three houses sold were older properties that had been recently refurbished.

Condominiums & Apartments
The first two examples comprise condominiums situated along Seven Mile Beach, many of which are purchased by overseas buyers for daily rental investment purposes. The third example is located just outside of town but still along the waterfront, while the fourth example consists of residential condominiums situated further inland, specifically in the George Town/South Sound area.

Discovery Point Club saw two sales in this beachfront Seven Mile Beach development in 2023, similar to 2022. However, the average sale price for these two transactions increased by 7% to CI$1,602,003 Net (US$1,907,146 Net) compared to CI$1,498,949 Net (US$1,784,463 Net) in 2022, indicating strong performance in the Seven Mile Beach condominium market.

In 2023, Silver Sands witnessed three sales with an average price of CI$1,972,055 Net (US$2,347,685 Net). This marks a significant 36% increase over the average sales value in 2021 (the last year sales were recorded for this development) and a whopping, take a seat, 228% increase over the average sale price in 2015!

Moving away from the beach, George Town Villas experienced a single sale in the waterfront development in 2023, compared to four sales in 2022. The sale price for the single unit, situated on the ground floor one unit back from the sea frontage, was CI$1,101,811 Net (US$1,311,679 Net) in contrast to the 2022 average of CI$835,318 Net (US$994,426 Net), representing a 32% increase over the previous year. It's worth noting, however, that this increase was based on a single sale.

The four 'Retreat' developments located in south George Town, off Bobby Thompson Way, which consist of Garden, Coco, Mystic, and Sunset, collectively offer 185 similar townhouse units. The annual sales of these 'Retreats' serve as a reliable indicator of the state of the George Town townhouse market. Reflecting the overall slowdown in transfers as demonstrated elsewhere in this article, there were only four sales of two-bedroom townhouses in these developments in 2023, compared to eight sales of similar units in 2022 and ten sales in 2021. Nevertheless, the average sale price of the four units sold in 2023 was 14% higher than the average in 2022, at CI$461,525 Net compared to CI$404,729 Net in 2022.

Land
In 2023, there were 184 land parcels sold, marking a 27% decrease from 2022.

At the same time, significant increases in land value were primarily propelled by factors such as the development of house lots, maturation of housing sub-divisions, and a diminishing supply of desirable plots. Notably, Grand Harbour emerged as a highly sought-after area for house lot sales, evidenced by the recent sale price at Harbour Reach reaching CI$46.18 per square foot (psf), reflecting a 4% uptick from the average price observed in 2022.

In Savannah, landlocked parcels experienced a notable 16% increase in average sale prices, rising from CI$12 psf in 2022 to CI$14.38 psf in 2023. Additionally, North Sound front parcels saw a substantial 39% surge in value from 2022 to mid-2023.

Meanwhile, land in West Bay commanded an average price of US$26.08 psf. In Frank Sound, the price of a 0.3-acre plot rose from CI$5.71 psf in 2021 to CI$7.93 psf in 2022, though data for 2023 comparisons are unavailable.

In Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, land sales during the first half of 2023 totaled 24, a decrease from 56 (Cayman Brac) and 33 (Little Cayman) in 2022. Notably, these sales transacted at 30% below the asking price.