“By 2019, most homes affected by the hurricane had been sold or rebuilt, though not all,” said Chris Smith, managing broker at Coldwell Banker British Virgin Islands Real Estate, which has a list for the house. “We were trying to get back to normal in 2019 when Kovid hit.”
The pandemic has brought lock-in and curfew, as well as some of the more severe restrictions on travel to the Caribbean, said Edward de Mallet Morgan, a partner in global super-affordable housing at Knight Frank. “I think the main reason for the ban is that the islands are a big financial center, a big insurance center, so tourism is not as important as in some other Caribbean countries,” he said.
Once again, domestic buyers have joined in to support the housing market, supported by the exemption from stamp duty for local buyers, introduced in 2020 and extended until 2021. Foreign investors have begun returning to the Virgin Islands in 2021, as in much of the Caribbean, Mr Childs said.
“The last two years we’ve gotten used to seeing almost no one in high season, but now we’ve brought back cruise ships, we have people staying in hotels and villas, and we’ve got yachts back,” he said. “You feel like this high season we did bring people back to the British Virgin Islands, and it’s time. “
Data on housing trends in the Virgin Islands are not always relevant due to the time of registration of land ownership licenses for foreigners, and the Department of Land Cadastre does not issue reports, brokers said. However, according to Mr. Childs, from 2018 to the third quarter of 2021, 271 homes were sold, most of them in Tortola, where the government and financial sector are located, and on Virgin Gorda, a tourist island with spectacular beaches.
