Optimism remains within the real estate industry after 2021 boom

BY DELANA ISLES

The real estate market in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023 is keeping pace with that of the first, with realtors urging agents to think outside of the box to keep clients interested.

And while the boom of 2021 has slowed down somewhat –beginning in 2022 - opinions differ about whether the sector has grounded to a halt.

Sean O'Neill, Managing Director of The Agency Turks & Caicos explains in his quarterly report why he remains optimistic about the market, while a Turks and Caicos Real Estate Association (TCREA) Market Report shared a detailed analysis of market trends.

O'Neill shared that while some in the industry believe the slowdown began in late 2022, they, at The Agency, do not subscribe to that theory.

“Are there as many buyers in the market as we saw in 2021? No, but that does not mean that we do not have a lot of eager buyers looking for a property, they just don’t always have the properties they want right away.

“As we saw in Q2, well-priced, well-marketed properties moved exceptionally quickly, with multiple offers and at or over the asking price,” O’Neill shared, a view that was also expressed in his first quarter report.

He has urged brokers and agents to work harder in order to find properties that meet the requirements of their buyers.

“Most importantly over the first six months of this year, we have had a lot of fun. Our team continues to grow and support each other as we target even greater projects on the horizon,” he added, saying that he believes there is plenty of opportunity out there.

Changes In The Mls

TCREA in their report explained a recent change in the system that now allows new developments to be listed as sold in the multiple listing services database (MLS) once the land closes and the associated construction contract is signed.

Previously these were listed in the MLS as close after property completion, which created an approximate five-year lag time as they await the completion of major condominium projects and new villa developments.

“This change will ensure that our Market Reports will better reflect our real time market conditions, at least regarding New Development

Single Family residences and villas.

“Condominium sales data will continue to lag though, as project completion is a condition to closed sales in our MLS system,” TCREA explained.

The Association outlined that after the second quarter of this year, market reports will show that TCI’s sold dollar volume will be even with last year - $373M versus $375M.

This will be led by Single Family Homes sold dollar volume, which nearly doubled last year$275M versus $144M.

However, they said much of this inventory was actually sold between late 2020 and the Summer of 2022.

“South Bank for example has thirty-five villas either under construction or newly completed, and this inventory remained in ‘pending transactions’ until very recently when the transactions were belatedly entered into our production reports as sold.

“Moving all these pending transactions over to sold of course means that pending activity (signed contracts) went down 55%.”

The Association noted that the takeaway is that TCREA sold a lot of single-family homes over the past thirty months - led by South Bank, then Beach Enclave, and more recently, the Strand.

“Secondly, we have established single-family homes as a true luxury segment as the 118% increase in average price demonstrates - $3,572,350 versus $1,637,988.

“Thirdly, we are in a build-andcomplete phase as we wait for new projects and pipeline projects to ripen.

“Fourth, the newly sold residences of today become the re-sale inventory of the future, and finally, new projects are in the pipeline to replenish supply.”