With the recent Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) quarterly business and consumer indices revealing a downward trend for business confidence in the fourth quarter of 2019, influenced by the devaluation and fluctuation of the Jamaican dollar and crime, members of the Realtors Association of Jamaica (RAJ) says the real estate industry remains unaffected.

“There are so many investors, not just locally, but overseas who want to invest in Jamaica. I don’t see a collapse of the industry within the near future,” Andrew James, president of RAJ, told reporters at the recent Monday Exchange, held at the Jamaica Observer‘s Beechwood Avenue headquarters in St Andrew.

“What I have realised over the period is that, yes, the devaluation of the dollar will definitely affect how people do business — that’s a given. However, based on what is happening in our industry, a number of people, instead of buying in US dollars, rather stick to the Jamaican dollar,” James continued.

Edwin Wint, treasurer of the RAJ, further added that during downward trends, the market adjusts and “keeps on moving”.

“Crime has not necessarily bubbled over last year or the year before, it’s been fluctuating. And the market has become accustomed to that and adjusted to those social maladies that [Jamaica has]. Unless it gets completely out of proportion, I don’t see where that is a factor at this point,” Wint stated

“If everything was perfect, the market would be rising even faster than it is now, so do [these factors] affect it? To an extent yes, but in the current trends that we are seeing, there isn’t any change in the market,” he continued.

The business confidence index fell to 131 points in the quarter under review from the 141 points recorded in the previous quarter. This 10-point fall-off in business confidence caused the overall indices to decline, as all seven variables used to measure business confidence decreased.

Businesses’ assessment of the current economic conditions is down by 21 points, expectations to the current economic conditions are down by six points, expected change in the economy is down by seven points, expected change in the firm’s finances is down by nine points, current return on investments is down by 23 points, expected change in profitability is down by seven points, and current investment and expansion interests are down by seven points.

“It should be noted, too that business confidence index is a measure and it’s on a continuum, and if the economy grows and continues to grow then we think that we are in the right trajectory. It should be admitted that the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar and crime have an effect on all industries, but what is clear is that if as a country we don’t get this crime monster under control, then it may not just be real estate that is at risk — but human capital,” Donovan Reid, first vice-president of RAJ, told reporters.

Despite the JCC’s findings, James maintained that now is the time to invest in real estate.

“The time to buy real estate is now — procrastination is costly. There’s so many things happening which basically never happened before. Take for example, before now, to purchase a property you needed to have at least 10 per cent or 15 per cent deposit, now you only need to come up with five per cent deposit since the Government reduced the transfers and duty taxes,” he declared.

“The financial institutions’ interest rates are the lowest that I can remember, and that’s another reason why you should take advantage of what is happening right now. In some instances there are banks offering as much as 110 per cent financing to purchase property – and that has never happened before”.

The Realtors Association of Jamaica is a trade organisation representing more than 950 active real estate professionals and affiliate members. It was established to protect and promote the general interests of the profession and to maintain and extend the services which the profession renders to the public.