Jamaica is witnessing a surge in interest from international real estate investors who experts in the sector say are not just drawn to the island because of its pristine beaches and vibrant culture, but also its history of political stability.

Roger Williams, interim CEO of Spectrum Capital Holdings, the parent company of RE/MAX Elite Realty, made the revelation at last week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange where he also outlined plans for RE/MAX’s Real Estate Conference and Expo scheduled for April 14-16 at Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

According to Williams, the growing interest to invest in Jamaica resides mainly within the diaspora.

“What I’ve seen is it kind of starts with Jamaicans living overseas who are familiar with Jamaica. They have a comfort level with Jamaica
— they know how to weigh the news that’s coming out of Jamaica. They’re not going to see a news report about some problems in St Andrew South Police Division and say, ‘I’m not buying any property in Jamaica’. They can put the information in context,” Williams said.

He explained that as Jamaicans in the diaspora increase their wealth, they look to invest in Jamaica. In doing so, they influence others to invest.

“They have their own network of persons abroad that may not be Jamaicans, and so those persons can start to validate their assumptions and validate their interests through their influence, and so it tends to spread like that,” Williams said.

“I think the trend is going up, particularly for what’s happening on the north coast and the north-west of the island. Those properties are being looked at and, in many cases, being bought by people living overseas,” he added.

When asked what he thought was attracting these investors to Jamaica, Williams said his experience working in the real estate outsourcing sector showed political stability.

“One of the things we tend to overlook is that [investors] look at political stability as a big thing because if we look at, unfortunately, what is happening in Haiti, it is so tragic. When people look at investing offshore they want to make sure that they are not getting into a situation where, if there is some political instability their investment is now at risk,” he argued.

Williams noted that Jamaica has had a peaceful transfer of power after each election in the country’s independent history.

“We are English-speaking as well. Our culture is attractive. We have [Usain] Bolt, Bob Marley, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
— people want to be a part of Jamaica. So it’s an easy, inviting option from the culture and familiarity in terms of being nearshore to North America, but also in terms of economic and political stability. Put together, those tend to help to heighten interest and ultimately drive the market,” he explained.

Audrey Wong, realtor associate at Keller Williams Jamaica, in a separate interview with the
Sunday Observer, explained the impacts of politics and crime on the market.

Wong said that she has seen an increased interest from international real estate investments in Jamaica ahead of the upcoming presidential election in the United States, which will be another contest between Democratic President Joe Biden and controversial Republican candidate Donald Trump.

“There is an upcoming election in the United States, and because of that I have seen an increase of international buyers from the United States that want to buy their piece of Jamrock just in case whatever happens in their country they can come here,” said Wong.

International real estate investors, she said, are “more so worried about their own countries and what is happening there than really what’s happening in Jamaica. Jamaica has more pros than cons and even if we have an election coming up, they will look at it, but it’s not going to be the reason they don’t buy”.

Wong said that international investors are more drawn to Jamaica because they know that their investments will increase in equity each year, making it a safe investment.

Five years ago, Prime Minister Andrew Holness had pointed to the significance of political stability to the growth of Jamaica’s economy.

“What is not often captured in these statistics about destinations, but which investors are usually also very concerned about is the political stability. Jamaica is the most politically stable for all your potential opportunities within the region,” Holness said on the opening day of the Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference and Operations Summit in 2019.

“Clearly, investors would want to go where they can get the best returns. But they also want to be certain that their investments will be safe [and] that the political risk is minimal. So in analysing Jamaica and, indeed, the [Caribbean] region, you can be sure that the political risk here is minimal,” he assured investors.

The prime minister further issued a commitment to maintain stability in Jamaica, stating that he will always campaign for peaceful democratic processes.