Can Jamaica’s Housing Market Weather a Global Downturn in 2026?

The world is shifting under our feet; what we build must be ready not just for good times — but for the unexpected.”

I find myself sitting on site, surveying the bones of a development in Montego Bay. The steelwork is complete, the concrete poured, but the quiet hum of expectation feels uneasy. Because beneath the shimmering skyline of progress lies a tension: global forces, fragile economies, and the very real possibility that things may not go the way we assume they will in 2026.

In Jamaica, the housing market has had a decent run. Prices have risen. Demand has held up. But I’m asking myself: what happens when the poetry of a development programme meets the prose of geopolitics? I’m talking not just about rainfall and hurricanes — though they matter deeply — but the kind of shocks that ripple from Washington to Kingston, from trade treaties to conflict zones far beyond the Caribbean.

The Calm, and Why It’s Fragile

Let’s start with the fundamentals. Jamaica’s economy has shown resilience…