Caribbean real estate investment is gathering momentum as the winter season opens. Trinidad & Tobago’s energy-driven property boom shows no sign of slowing. Dominican Republic luxury hotel openings are elevating the country’s profile. Jamaica’s IMF reform programme is demonstrating credibility through quarterly compliance, and Barbados’s winter tourism season is generating cautious optimism.

October 2013 marks the opening of the Caribbean’s winter tourism season. CBI programmes across St Kitts, Antigua, Dominica, and Grenada are generating growing property investment flows. Trinidad & Tobago’s luxury residential market is strengthening, Barbados faces economic headwinds, and Jamaica’s NHT continues to support affordable homeownership under IMF constraints.

The 2013 Atlantic hurricane season is tracking well below normal, bringing relief to Caribbean property markets. But an emerging sargassum seaweed crisis is threatening coastal property values from the Lesser Antilles to Jamaica. Meanwhile Jamaica’s IMF reform faces mid-programme headwinds and Trinidad & Tobago’s energy economy continues to power property demand.

Peak Caribbean summer 2013: tourism arrivals are running ahead of prior-year levels across most territories, Jamaica’s IMF fiscal reform is gathering momentum, Trinidad & Tobago’s construction boom is reshaping Port of Spain, and citizenship by investment programmes are generating growing property investment flows.

The inaugural baseline edition of the Caribbean Property & Investment Review surveys the region in summer 2013: Jamaica two months into its IMF Extended Fund Facility, Trinidad & Tobago riding high on energy revenues, the Dominican Republic powering ahead, and Caribbean tourism delivering a strong season.