MONTEGO BAY, St James — Investors who got in early on Proven’s Via at Braemar high-rise apartments in New Kingston have seen a return on their investment (ROI) of between 20 and 48 per cent when they sell, according to Proven Properties CEO Aisha Campbell.

Studio units bought in 2019 for US$156,459 were worth US$232,258 in 2023 — a 48 per cent return. One-bedroom units purchased for US$234,000 had a sale price of US$280,645 — a 20 per cent increase in value over the same four-year period. Meanwhile, two-bedroom units sold in 2022 for US$330,000 were selling at US$360,000 in 2023, a nine per cent increase in value.

“People are moving the units now at these sorts of prices,” said Campbell, one of the panellists who spoke about Real Estate Investment — Jamaican Success Stories, on the second day of Realtors Association of Jamaica’s International Real Estate Conference (IREC) 2024.

According to Campbell, the original purchasers were mostly investors.

“The studios and the one-bedrooms, we’re looking at 12 per cent annualised return, [and] five per cent annualised return just on capital appreciation. For any investor, that’s a win,” she stressed.

Original buyers who have opted to hold onto their property and use it as a source of short-term rental income have also been doing well with double-digit ROI. The studios, which average US$100 a night, are generating 16 per cent ROI. At nearly US$160 each night, the one-bedroom apartments are at 17 per cent and the two-bedrooms (US$350 a night) at 27 per cent ROI.

“Even if you wanted to rent for long term, it’s still an attractive value proposition. We’re looking at eight per cent, nine per cent return on investment,” said Campbell.

Via at Braemar is a 10-storey development that consists of 99 apartments on 1.7 acres of land. There are 51 studios; 30 one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments; and 18 two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom apartments. The land on which it stands was bought in 2017, construction began in 2019, they worked through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and completed it in 2022.

Amenities include 24-hour security, a gym, a floating rooftop pool with entertainment area, covered parking, landscaped lounges, jogging trail, water storage, and a standby generator.

Starting from a greenfield site, the vision was to “redefine urban living in New Kingston”.

Campbell lauded Jamaican architect David Douglas for successfully bringing the “outdoors indoors” within a high-rise building.

“We used a lot of natural materials to just really create a tropical design, but still contemporary,” she said.“If you visit that development now you would see that there are plants, the foliage — as I said before the use of the natural materials — all of that was incorporated to ensure that we checked that sustainability box,” she added.

According to Campbell, looking at all three KPIs used, the project was a success.

“We looked at the design of vision for the product: What did we want our customers to have at the end? We looked at how did we execute the project, and we looked at were our customers satisfied. I think we can see resoundingly that this is a Jamaican real estate development project success story,” she declared.

Also on the panel was Sygnus Vice-President and Head of Real Estate and Project Finance David Cummings, along with managing director of Barnett Limited, Mark Kerr Jarrett.

IREC 2024 began on Thursday and wrapped up on Saturday with a home expo that was open to the public.