Real Estate Market
Antigua & Barbuda, as a former colony of the British, has been in the luxury tourism game for longer than many of the other islands. It holds the enviable position of being one of the most beautiful islands in the region with 365 stuff-dreams-are-made-of beaches, and is the one with some of the most impressive historical sites. With daily direct air access from Europe and North America and as a favorite of European royalty, the English-speaking twin-island nation of Antigua & Barbuda has hosted the world’s privileged for generations.
With its laid-back elegance, turquoise waters, luxury yachts and celebrity residents, it is developed enough to have attracted thousands of immigrants to call the place home, and educate their children here. Antigua boasts an international baccalaureate school, amongst others. In the chic enclave of English Harbour on the south coast you’ll find yourself surrounded by the world’s biggest motor and sailing yachts, watching international regattas, and dining in a multitude of international-class restaurants amongst a sophisticated crowd who are distinctly understated.
Of course as Antigua & Barbuda receives more and more general exposure, it may begin to attract the showy crowds, but for now it is growing in stature and staying true to itself.
Antigua is full of industry leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, and adventurers who find the place soulful and sophisticated all at once, and whom are attracted to the laid-back way of life and local culture.
The property market has been on the rise since the 1960’s when a group of adventurous Englishmen founded the Antigua Yacht Club and the now renowned Sailing Week regatta, which takes place each April. In 2007, Antigua & Barbuda had the biggest property price growth of anywhere in the world according to the Knight Frank Property Report. Once the Great Recession hit, the market was stagnant for a couple of years but the property that retained its value the best was at the high end, and today the market is buoyant and progressive.
Some of the most exclusive Caribbean homes are in Antigua & Barbuda with prices up to US $45M for a private home. Two similar in concept communities in Antigua are the Mill Reef Club developed in the 1960s whose founding members were mostly U.S. industrialist families, many of whom still own their homes there today, and later in the 1990s, Jumby Bay, which today boasts 50 private estates with a luxury hotel and is considered one of the top private island communities in the world. The Rendezvous Bay community is the new generation and is part of an evolution that is going to propel Antigua even further forward on the international map of desirable destinations.
