Hi Can anyone offer any advice on the St.Lucia property market as a pure investment? Considering a off-plan 1x bed apartment (2yr build time) for £115K? Hot or not??!!
Hi, personally I think that is quite expensive, not sure where it is on the island though, but expensive any way. I have been going every year to St Lucia for some 12 years and know the island and its development pretty well. I was offered a 75 sqm apartment some 6 years ago near Rodney Bay, premier place for yachting etc. for $48.000 at the time... I wish... Check out which part of the island it is and look for local estate agents to check out the prices. Good Luck.
The St Lucian property market, and the Caribbean as a whole is generally moving in the right direction in terms of growth at the moment. I think growth is around 12-18% at the moment.
Whether the property you are talking about is a good deal will depend on where its located IMO.
If its in the Rodney Bay area near the beach/marina, then you could well be onto a very good deal, as the marina is soon to be getting a very expensive facelift by a huge company that want to make the marina suitable for 'super yachts'. This alone should push prices up quite considerably.
I would say if the apartment has sea views or is near to a beach, you shouldnt go too far wrong.
On the other hand, I do know of a development which is about 10 minutes from Rodney Bay that can offer 3 bed detached villas for around £170,000, but you wont get sea views with that.
I do know of one apartment that was bought for $1.2m 18 months ago in the Landings development, that has recently gone for $2M+, so that tells me that if its the right property in the right place, you should make money out of it in the long term.
Hi Thanks for the advice..the location is Marquis estate on the beach front (east coast). says easy reach from Castries. They offering studio only at moment for £95K with 2yr 10% rental and then 50% room share. Do u know anything about this location? And rental potential of a whole on St.Lucia?
Havent heard too much about Marquis, but have just done a little bit of research, and tbh, I would be a little wary about this.
Firstly, I dont feel that a 50:50 rental split with the developer/management company is a fair ratio. It should be a lot closer to 70:30 in your favour. After all its your property that you have paid for, so why should someone else take half of your earnings?
Secondly, its by the same developer of the Merricks resort in Barbados, which I have heard some bad reports about. Namely, a lack of information from the developers (running costs, build times etc etc) regarding the resort.
There are a few threads regarding Harlequin (the Developer) on other property forums (Singing Pig, Totally Property)and it doesnt seem that anyone has anything good to say about them at the moment.
In fact recently an agent for Merricks called me to see if I was interested, and I said only if he can get me the exact running costs. He skirted around the subject as much as possible until I got him to admit, the developer wont release them or even an approximation of them yet, which is always a little worrying to me.
Also, the east coast area that the development is based is pretty untouched as such in terms of ameneties, and it looks about a 15-20 minute drive to Rodney Bay and Castries on the west coast.
On the plus side, there is going to be a Raffles resort with a Jack Nicklaus golf course being built on that side of the island, but thats on the northernmost tip.
In regards to rentals, I must admit that I dont know the exact figure but I would take a flyer at around 60-65% occupancy, but as the St Lucian Govt. are starting to push tourism more than ever I would expect it to rise over the next few years.
Thanks for the advice..think need to do some more home work on this one! If only everyone was honest and upfront regarding property investment!! Cheers,
Hi, I think you have some pretty good advice there, I would like to add on the potential occupancy for accommodation if I may, it is between 70 and 85%, as I have friends who had their house built near the present golf course, their occupancy is 90%. They had huge problems with their developers, the actual finish was over one yar late! So yes, more homework I would say
Hi Phil, St Lucia is on my mind as it is such a beautiful island with extremely lovely people; in your further enquiries do ask the developers whether their build standard is sufficient to withstand the hurricane effects with its anticipated hazards! I remember in 1999 Hurrican Lenny swept through the island approaching from the west-side which is very unusual, when I arrived at the hotel near Gros Islet the beach, there was no beach left! Part of the gardens and buildings had been ripped away, and I remember going by boat passing Soufriere, located on the south-west, it looked that the big palm trees had been chopped, like match sticks bent in half, the village was decimated. The build standard is worth checking out. The Government with the Tourist industry is working on sustainable tourism, St Lucia is still a development country so there are funds available, and developers should take that into consideration! Just ask questions! Regards
