LEVY…if you don’t adjust rate downwards, they (apartments) are just going to stay vacant. ((Photos: Norman Thomas))
Jamaica is currently facing a chronic oversupply of apartments, especially in Kingston, where there are upwards of 1,000 unsold units.
This according to real estate broker Anya Levy and veteran real estate entrepreneur and developer, Peter Rousseau. Both are of the view that the apartment segment of the real estate market is already over-saturated, with very little takers based primarily on the price being demanded by developers.
They made the point that the demand for town houses remains strong while highlighting the growing opportunities in the commercial real estate market, particularly as in regards to warehousing and car parks.
Speaking recently at the Sygnus Business Breakfast panel discussion under the theme, ‘Using Flexible Capital to Unlock Value in Real Estate’, both real estate experts dispelled the notion that given this oversupply, an imminent real estate bubble could arise.
Rousseau argued that if there is to be a downturn in the real estate market — it would be in the apartment segment, pointing out that this oversupply of apartments is evident in the Corporate Area. He pointed to the many vacant apartments in places like Liguanea, Barbican and other upscale neighbourhoods.
“When you drive around parts of Barbican, Liguanea and a number of areas at nights and look at the number of apartment buildings built recently, the number of lighted apartments to non-lighted apartments, sometimes you see upwards of 80 darkness,” Rousseau lamented, making the case that many of these apartments are unsold and unoccupied.
He was adamant that there is no real estate bust on the horizon but admitted that he is concerned about this oversupply of apartments in Jamaica.
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