Investment watch: oh we do like to build beside the seaside
The 10,281 square-foot plots of land, located on Little Cayman, were part of the previously sold out Coral Estate development. The freehold villa plots cost £50,000, a low enough price to attract 26 per cent more enquiries than the second most popular listing on the site, a luxury hotel investment in Thailand.
The Phuket project promised 47.6 per cent annual returns on a £49,500 investment. Combined with four weeks’ personal usage, the overall 820 per cent ROI benefitted from growing investor interest in Thai real estate on TheMoveChannel.com.
Brazil’s growing economy also attracted a lot of attention. It accounted for two of the top 10 listings in April - a social housing investment with 20 per cent returns and an alternative farming investment - making it the only country to appear more than once in the Investment Watch chart.
Rental properties remained a consistently popular form of income, with yields from a hotel investment in Germany and a ski resort unit in Bulgaria attracting the fifth highest and seventh highest number of enquiries respectively.
Indeed, as investors prioritised profits over personal purchases, there were only three lifestyle opportunities in April’s top 10 listings; a new resort on Eden Island in the Seychelles was the fourth most popular listing, topped by plots of land in Belize, which ranked in third place, and the first place Coral Estate villas on Little Cayman. Together with Thailand’s Phuket, the top four listings on TheMoveChannel.com were all beach properties, as investors showed a clear desire to be as close to the Coast as possible.
Buyers also preferred to build their investment from scratch, with plots of land accounting for three of the 10 most popular listings; even in Atlanta’s strong rental market, land for £9,642 generated the ninth highest enquiries on the site, offering buyers a chance to construct an investment for high returns rather than a coastal villa for holidays. But as summer approaches, with land opportunities in both the Cayman Islands and Belize, the urge to build beside the seaside proved impossible for buyers to resist.
Director Dan Johnson comments: “While the most popular properties on TheMoveChannel.com currently tend to be established resorts or hotels, building plots offer investors a chance to generate income for a smaller entry cost. Ongoing economic uncertainty has left buyers counting their pennies carefully, which has helped to drive up demand for land plots, be they in America or the Caribbean.
“Indeed, building plots have regularly appeared in the Investment Watch chart, but they rarely make it to the number one spot. With interest in Thai property growing on TheMoveChannel.com, it takes a lot to top a low-priced Phuket hotel with high returns, but the Cayman Islands listing had it: the beachfront location, a discounted price from £60,000 to £50,000, and also a property market without any taxes.
"The affordable buying conditions in the Cayman Islands have seen demand for real estate increase significantly in the last four months, a trend that has been encouraged by opportunities such as the Coral Estate land plots. As investors continue to pinch their purses, the land had buyers understandably rushing for their buckets and spades.”
Notes to Editors
Founded in 1999, TheMoveChannel.com is the leading independent website for international property, with than 400,000 listings in over 100 countries around the world, marketed on behalf of agents, developers and private owners.
The website address is http://www.themovechannel.com and the office address is 24 Jack's Place, Corbet Place, Spitalfields, London, E1 6NN.
Contact Dan Johnson on 0207 952 7650 for further information