The Caribbean’s property market has received a boost with the launch of a dedicated Caribbean Property portal called 7th Heaven Properties. The sites offers a full turnkey solution and a more personalized service for buyers and sellers.
7th Heaven Properties focuses exclusively on the Caribbean Property market offering specialist advice and a free listing service for Caribbean property developers and individual sellers who wish to advertise and promote their property online.
London-based founder Walter Zephirin, who is a St Lucian national says:
“The Caribbean as a whole has so much to offer, there are excellent products, stunning properties and practically year round sunshine.
“As a tourism destination the Caribbean has so many things which top most destinations: diversity, stability and exquisite beauty. The Caribbean property market continues to grow while other property markets falter. Property prices in the Caribbean represent excellent value and due to the current strength of the Pound and Euro, UK and European investors are increasingly becoming aware of the benefits of investing in the Caribbean.
“This is the perfect time for Caribbean developers to take advantage of the sustained growth in the UK property market. In spite of the current ‘credit crunch’, the growth in the market has given serious financial clout to an increased section of the population, making second home ownership attainable for the first time. One in four in the UK now own property outright and residential property accounts for over half of all UK assets. It’s also worth noting that 211,000 households have second homes abroad and growth in this market is at four times the rate of the UK domestic market.
However Caribbean developers and governments should take heed from economies such as Spain, which recently experienced a serious property crash. Although investment is hugely beneficial to smaller economies, it is not just about the amount of investment but more importantly about the type of foreign investment and how it is managed.”
Our research has shown that as an emerging market the Caribbean is at the perfect stage to capitalize on the global “Caribbean is cool” trend which is being promoted by brands such as Nike, Puma, Virgin and Mars Corporation, to name a few.
Walter Zephirin added: “Although many Caribbean companies cannot compete against global brands from a pricing perspective due to economies of scale, there are many other options to brand building and increasing sales. New Media can be used effectively to target customers and increase market share without costing large amounts of money.
“The cost of the product also does not necessarily impact on sales, providing that the brand is positioned correctly. Of course there are other issues such as quality and volumes, which impact on the overall sales potential of products. With the correct strategies in place there is a lot of room in global markets for Caribbean products.”
The majority of the region’s economy is underwritten by tourism-related industries and recent research has shown that tourism is expected to generate US$56.1billiion of economic activity between now and 2017 with earnings expected to grow by 3.3% a year, so it is essential that in this globalized economy the islands identify their USPs and develop campaigns which are effective and targeted.
The islands would be advised to coordinate the promotion of a Caribbean brand through pooled campaigns to compete with other global destinations, which have larger advertising and marketing budgets. With more inter-island governmental cooperation and the effective positioning of the Caribbean brand, the region will remain a force to be reckoned with on the global tourism and travel markets in an increasingly competitive environment.
7th Heaven Properties is the Caribbean property specialist, offering homes, villas, land and commercial real estate for sale from across the entire Caribbean. Please see our website for all kinds of Caribbean property for sale.
