KINGSTON, Jamaica — Somewhere in Jamaica, a homeowner is already thinking about selling their property in 2027. Perhaps the children have grown and moved away. Perhaps retirement is approaching, an overseas opportunity is calling, or the family simply needs a different kind of home. For others, the decision is more complicated. Financial pressures, changing circumstances, rising maintenance costs and the…
Jamaica’s pandemic property boom opened doors for some buyers and created expensive commitments for others. Years later, the real measure of homeownership may be less about rising prices than the lives people can afford to lead.
Billions in insurance settlements, a deepening land ownership debate, expensive rebuilding decisions and an expanding north coast property market have exposed a difficult question: Is Jamaica building communities that ordinary Jamaicans can afford, maintain and call their own?
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica is building a new north coast. Thousands of homes are rising across St Mary, St Ann,…
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s property market is sending mixed signals. Buyers are gaining negotiating power in Kingston and St Andrew.…
From billion-dollar apartments overlooking Kingston Harbour to families being moved from vulnerable communities, a succession of housing announcements is exposing a deeper question about Jamaica’s future: Is the country simply building more properties, or creating places where ordinary Jamaicans can afford to belong?
Property Market
Could one discounted apartment sale affect neighbouring property values in Jamaica? Jamaica Homes examines strata fees, valuations and market risks.
Since 1957 Jamaica has taxed land rather than buildings, the system economists from Adam Smith to Henry George have praised as the fairest and least damaging tax of all. Yet it raises roughly a third of one per cent of GDP, billions of dollars go unpaid, and bills still rest on 2013 valuations.
Backyard family graves carry deep meaning, but they can also complicate property sales, mortgages, rentals and neighbourhood appeal. Jamaica Homes examines the figures and the choices facing owners.
Jamaica has about a quarter of the cemetery land its own planning standard requires, and most Jamaicans are still buried rather than cremated. From HK$5 million niches to the grave in the family yard, an investigation into who owns the land of the dead.
Mortgages & Money
Jamaica’s banks may be resilient, but that does not mean every mortgaged household is secure. An examination of arrears, property recovery, interest rates and the human cost of mortgage distress.
RENTING
Rising rents, competing apartments and mounting ownership costs reveal the pressures facing Jamaica’s landlords and tenants.
Diaspora & Migration
Britain promised to put right the wrongs done to the Windrush generation. Seven years after compensation began, about a third of decided claims have produced a payment, at least 66 claimants have died waiting, and the Home Office is still marking its own homework. A full accounting of what happened, what didn’t, and what could have been done better.