property owners high yields, meanwhile the cost of living is comparatively low, especially in less developed areas such as the Dominican Republic.
The future is incredibly bright for property investment in this idyllic part of the world whether you go for the exciting prospect of the emerging markets or the prestigious glamour of the more established and well-known islands.
The Caribbean as a whole offers perfect weather. All the islands are tropical and experience warm and humid conditions with temperatures of around 28 degrees Celsius in the hotter months of July through August. Monsoon season falls between June and November and typically involves much welcomed bouts of rain. Hurricanes are by no means a given and tend to form only during the month of September, if at all. The vast majority of hurricanes are insignificant and some islands such as Isla Margarita miss out altogether as they are outside the hurricane belt. During the 'winter' season in January through February there is only a slight dip in temperature to around a balmy 24 degrees Celsius.
The Caribbean will always be a long haul destination for Europeans as it is approximately a nine-hour flight. However flights are now becoming more frequent and infinitely better priced due to the rise in popularity of emerging Caribbean stars such as the Dominican Republic. Established islands such as Barbados and the Bahamas are served by a wide variety of carriers including British West Indian Airlines (BWIA), British Airways (BA), American Airlines (AA), Air Canada (AC), Canadian Airlines and Air Jamaica (AJ). A huge plus point is the incredibly easy access from the Americas to the Caribbean Islands, thus opening up rental potential to a vast ‘local’ market of millions. By way of example approximate flight time from Barbados to Toronto-Canada is four hours, Miami is three and a half hours and New York is five hours. |
