Real estate prices rise over 600%

Real estate values have climbed sharply in Jamaica since 2001, resulting in 639 percent returns based on selling prices of units to 2021, excluding ongoing income and expenses. Prices are based on properties in Kingston, the most active market in Jamaica, as such actual values may therefore vary in other areas of the country.

Dulwich studio & 2 bedroom units starting at $31,000 per square foot.

The data is compiled by ICInsider.com based on selling prices of up-market units that include mostly two and three bedrooms units in gated residences, using selling prices per square foot of each unit. For this year, the average price of a number of units was used, which works out at $30,700 per square foot, compared to approximately $3,850 per square foot back in 2001.
Investors who bought properties using mortgage funding would have enjoyed greater gains than the above. A purchase using a 70 percent mortgage would have provided a gain of 2,130 percent. Persons like to compare local investments with the movement between the USA and Jamaican dollars. Data shows that an investment in the US dollar would have increased just 257 percent between 2001 and 2021.
The market is now more diverse than a few years ago, with prices per square foot as high as $67,199 for a 1,564 square foot 2 bedroom to be built by as the Residences of Terra Nova on Merrick Avenue, Kingston 10 on lands adjoining the Terra Nova Hotel, will set back investors by $105,098,454.

Interior of Model unit at East Oakridge apartment complex

Prices of a number of inputs in the building residential units have gone up since the latter part of 2020, with steel by about 30 percent and lumber more than doubling and had tripled early in 2021 over 2020 prices while shipping cost for many other inputs being up as well. Cement and labour costs remain fairly stable on a square footage basis, as would professional fees and government taxes. Some in the building industry see the increased prices for imported input pushing the cost of development above normal annual increases as such cost per square foot could climb above the normal for newer units coming to market.