Property Stocks Weekly: Rates Rise, the Market Rallies and Cement Booms

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Bank of Jamaica raised its policy interest rate last week, lifting it from 5.50 per cent to 6.00 per cent effective September 29 after annual inflation climbed to 7.9 per cent in August, well above the central bank’s 4 to 6 per cent target. Yet the stock market shrugged it off. The main JSE Index rose 12,608.87 points, or 3.4 per cent, over the week to close at 383,592.83 on Friday, October 2, according to the Jamaica Stock Exchange’s daily trading summaries.

For the listed companies that own, finance and build Jamaican property, that combination matters. Higher rates raise the cost of the debt many property companies carry and make interest-bearing investments more attractive next to property shares. At the same time, demand from the rebuilding that followed Hurricane Melissa continues to lift the businesses that supply the construction trade.

The week at a glance

The week on the market

More than half of the week’s gain came on Wednesday, September 30, when the JSE Index jumped 1.79 per cent to 385,314.47. Volume that day reached more than 1.85 billion units, but the exchange’s summary shows 97.65 per cent of it was in a single stock, West Indies Petroleum Terminal, so the headline figure overstates how busy the wider market was. The index gave back a little on Thursday and Friday.

Among property names, 138 Student Living was the standout, rising on Wednesday and again sharply on Monday. It is now up 18.32 per cent so far this year, near the middle of its 52-week range of $2.15 to $4.28.

Latest results at a glance

Builders: the rebuild keeps paying Caribbean Cement

No listed company shows the Melissa effect more clearly than Caribbean Cement. Its most recent results, for the second quarter to June, showed profit of $2.7 billion against $544 million a year earlier, with record second-quarter sales of 110,647 tonnes, the Gleaner reported. Half-year revenue rose 14 per cent to $18.57 billion and net income more than doubled to $5.75 billion. The company credited reconstruction demand and a kiln expansion that lifts annual capacity to 1.3 million tonnes from 1 million.

Berger Paints Jamaica, the other building-materials name we follow, has made no major announcement in recent weeks.

Landlords: hotels, offices and student rooms

Sagicor Real Estate X Fund, whose biggest asset is the DoubleTree by Hilton in Orlando, passed the billion-dollar mark last year, reporting net profit of $1.01 billion for 2025, up 121 per cent, the Jamaica Observer reported. The start of 2026 was flatter: first-quarter shareholder profit was $391.5 million, $11 million lower than a year earlier, although the Orlando hotel lifted its own profit 42 per cent. The fund had hoped for a lift from World Cup visitors, but told shareholders that bookings in some US host cities were running well below expectations, 40 per cent below in Miami and 80 per cent below in Kansas City.

Kingston Properties continues to look abroad for growth. Its third UK purchase, the Lakeview East office building in Dartford outside London, came with an annual rent of £408,432 and a net initial yield of 10.95 per cent, the Observer reported in January. UK property now makes up about 16 per cent of its portfolio, and the company has set a target of US$100 million in assets. It reported rental income up 32 per cent and core net earnings up 51 per cent in its first quarter of 2026.

138 Student Living, which runs halls of residence at the University of the West Indies, filed its third-quarter accounts in August. Figures on the exchange’s company page show earnings of $120.7 million for the quarter to March 2026, up from $77.0 million a year earlier.

Developers and financiers: where rates bite hardest

Sygnus Real Estate Financial nearly tripled its quarterly profit to $444.3 million in the three months to May, from $151.7 million, the Gleaner reported. Almost all of that came from an $806.9 million revaluation gain on Lakespen, its 55-acre industrial park at Caymanas in St Catherine, where about a third of the 34 lots are reserved or under offer. Its chief investment officer cautioned investors not to expect similar gains again, saying future earnings will depend on actually selling the lots.

First Rock Real Estate Investments is the name most exposed to higher borrowing costs. It returned to a small profit in 2025 and earned US$522,300 in the first quarter of 2026, but cash fell to US$597,000 from US$1.72 million at the end of 2025, and some of its financing carries interest rates as high as 18 per cent, the Observer reported. The company plans to raise new equity to help fund about US$28 million of rental-property purchases in Costa Rica and Martinique, and seven homes at its Hambani development in Kingston 6 are under contract at between US$1.8 million and US$2.3 million each.

Eppley Caribbean Property Fund, which owns property across the region, continues to publish its net asset value and dividends on the exchange, with no major change announced in recent weeks.

What to watch

The September results will be the first full quarter to show how higher rates, the rebuild and the tourism season have fed through to property earnings.

Property Stocks Weekly is published every Monday by Jamaica Homes News, tracking the listed companies that own, finance and build Jamaican property. Figures are taken from the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the Bank of Jamaica, company reports and news reports named in the text. This report is for information only and is not investment advice.