climate resilient housing Jamaica

Bruce Golding’s resignation in September 2011 and Andrew Holness’s assumption of the prime ministership mark a political turning point — but Jamaica’s housing market turns on interest rates, not premierships. This review, the first in our quarterly series, examines the housing crisis that no change of government has yet resolved.

Eighteen months after the Jamaica Debt Exchange, the hoped-for improvement in commercial mortgage rates has been slow to arrive. This review examines what the JDX has and has not delivered for Jamaica’s housing market — and what the political turbulence of the Dudus year means for buyers and developers.

Fourteen months after the Jamaica Debt Exchange, the housing market asks whether it has turned a corner. Construction costs are rising, land titling backlogs persist, and commercial mortgage rates remain out of reach for most Jamaican families. The JDX was necessary. It was not sufficient.

Jamaica’s housing market enters 2011 after a punishing year: the JDX restructuring, the Dudus extradition crisis and a faltering global economy. This review takes stock of what 2010 delivered for Jamaican homebuyers — and what 2011 must accomplish.

Eight months after the JDX and four months after the Tivoli Gardens crisis, Jamaica’s housing market is stabilising but not recovering. This review assesses what the year’s twin shocks have meant for buyers, developers and the diaspora that sustains Jamaica’s informal housing economy.

Five months after the JDX and weeks after the Tivoli Gardens crisis, Jamaica’s housing market navigates an extraordinary summer. This review examines the interaction of fiscal adjustment, security fallout and a weakened tourist season on housing conditions across the island.

Two months after the Jamaica Debt Exchange and with the IMF Stand-By Arrangement in place, Jamaica’s housing market asks when the fiscal rescue translates into mortgage relief. This review traces the chain of causation from the JDX to the mortgage market — and explains why it takes longer than buyers hope.

As the Jamaica Debt Exchange looms in early 2010, the housing market stands at the edge of a potential turning point. This review assesses what the JDX will and will not deliver for buyers, renters and developers — and why the benefits, when they arrive, will take time.

As the global recession delivers its full weight to Jamaica in 2009, the housing market faces falling remittances, a contracting NHT contribution base and a commercial mortgage market effectively frozen for working families. This review examines the crisis’s specific housing costs and what must happen for recovery to begin.

Ten months after Lehman Brothers collapsed, Jamaica’s housing market is absorbing the full weight of the global recession. Tourism is down, remittances are falling, and commercial credit has tightened sharply. This review asks whether the trough has been reached — and what the recovery’s path looks like.

Six months after the Lehman collapse, Jamaica’s housing market faces the global recession’s full force: declining tourism, falling remittances and frozen commercial credit. This review examines how the crisis reaches into Jamaican homes and what the housing market’s resilient institutions are doing to hold the line.

As the world absorbs the Lehman Brothers shock and enters the deepest global recession in eighty years, Jamaica’s housing market faces its most severe external test. This review examines the crisis’s channels of impact and asks what Jamaica’s housing institutions must do to minimise the scarring.

Three weeks after Lehman Brothers collapsed, the global financial crisis is arriving in Jamaica through its most exposed channels: tourism, remittances and external borrowing costs. This review examines the specific housing market consequences and what Jamaican buyers and homeowners must do to navigate the storm.

With global oil prices above $140 per barrel and construction costs rising sharply, Jamaica’s housing market faces an acute affordability squeeze. This review examines how the commodity spike is hitting developers, buyers and the NHT — and what the deteriorating global financial environment means for the year ahead.

The Bear Stearns rescue signals deepening stress in global finance; rising food and oil prices are eroding Jamaican household budgets. This review examines the global warning signs that are reaching the Jamaican housing market and what buyers and developers must do to navigate the gathering storm.