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Thirteen months into the Holness government, Jamaica’s economy is genuinely growing, the BOJ has started cutting rates and developer confidence is returning. This review assesses whether the new administration’s energy is translating into meaningful housing market improvement.
Ten months into the Holness government, Jamaica is growing again and the rate outlook is turning positive. This review asks what the JLP’s housing agenda has achieved in its first year — and where the urgent work for 2017 must be directed.
Seven months after the JLP’s election victory, Jamaica’s housing market is cautiously optimistic — but Brexit has disrupted diaspora buyer confidence from the UK, and the structural deficit awaits the new government’s supply-side agenda.
Two weeks after Britain voted for Brexit, Jamaica’s housing market is processing the shock — particularly for the UK diaspora whose sterling savings now buy less Jamaican property. This review assesses the Brexit effect on a market already navigating deep structural challenges.
Six weeks after Andrew Holness and the JLP won Jamaica’s most competitive election in years, the housing market is asking what change of government means in practice. This review assesses the PNP’s housing legacy, the JLP’s promises, and the structural reality that no election resolves overnight.
With Jamaica’s general election weeks away, housing policy becomes a political battleground. This review assesses what three years of IMF austerity have done to the housing market and what voters can realistically expect whichever party wins.
Two and a half years into the IMF programme, Jamaica has stability without housing progress. This review examines the disconnect between improved macroeconomic aggregates and the lived housing reality of Jamaican families still waiting for the adjustment to pay off.
Falling oil prices and Greece’s debt crisis are the summer’s dominant external themes. This review asks what either means for Jamaican households — and concludes that global events have nudged but not resolved the structural housing affordability challenge that no external development can fix alone.
Falling oil prices are cutting Jamaican household energy costs for the first time in years. This review traces the chain from crude prices to mortgage affordability — and asks why the link still isn’t strong enough to unlock homeownership for most working Jamaicans.
Oil prices crashed by over fifty percent in the second half of 2014, handing Jamaica its most significant external economic windfall in years. This review asks how the energy bonanza travels from crude markets to the Jamaican household — and when it might finally make a mortgage more affordable.
Sixteen months into the IMF programme, five quarterly reviews passed, and Jamaica’s housing market remains caught in the adjustment’s vice. This review assesses the cost of compliance for Jamaican homebuyers — and whether the Ebola anxiety rattling global tourism markets will add to the pressure.
One year into the IMF programme, Jamaica’s fiscal targets are being met — but the housing market is paying a price in compressed wages, cut public investment and double-digit mortgage rates that lock out the formal sector middle class. This review asks what the adjustment’s first anniversary means for home buyers.
One year on from the IMF deal and the NDX debt restructuring, Jamaica’s housing market is absorbing the full weight of fiscal adjustment. This review asks what the rescue has cost Jamaican homebuyers — and when the dividend of stability will begin to materialise.
Eight months into the IMF Extended Fund Facility, Jamaica’s housing market enters 2014 with fragile hope. Mortgage rates remain punishing, the dollar has depreciated, and unemployment is rising — but the programme is on track and the NHT continues to function as the market’s critical lifeline.
Five months into the IMF Extended Fund Facility and eight months after the NDX, Jamaica’s housing market is at its deepest point of adjustment. Construction has stalled, mortgage credit is tight, and the rental sector is absorbing the overflow. This review examines the valley — and what lies beyond it.