CIREBA President Jeremy Hurst stated, "As the graphs show, the value of land transfers rose significantly in January 2011 with CI$36.5m of land transfers compared to CI$23.7m in January 2010 representing a 63% year on year increase." Additionally, CIREBA reports that January was a positive month and February was off the chart with a 720% increase in sales volumes compared to the same time last year. Mr. Hurst clarified, Now clearly this increase was skewed by one large and very influential land assemblage sale, however even if this transaction is taken out, land transfers would still be almost 100% higher than transfers for the same month last year with a similar increase applying to the number of transactions." CIREBA reports that the large purchase, made by the Dart Group, while being atypical is the type of commitment and boost that the country needed. The purchase generated a significant amount of duty for Government and also sent the right message to the market. Other projects including Dr. Shetty's Medical Tourism project are reportedly moving forward and new projects like the Free Zone have added buoyancy to the economy and real estate market. CIREBA's President explained, "These types of projects are slated to attract smaller entrepreneurial businesses from established competitive Free Zones such as Dubai. The projects have given a confidence boost to the local market. CIREBAs statistical information shows that Cayman real estate values remain better than they've been for a decade. Mr. Hurst commented, However one essential trend that needs to be reversed is the population decline that occurred in 2009 and 2010 and the associated loss in jobs. We need to attract people to create the market size that will ensure our businesses remain profitable and that will allow us to put people back to work. Unemployment creates social problems, so it is essential that some of the projects that are in their initial phases move into their construction and development phases quickly and start employing our existing workforce and bring in new workers from abroad who will in turn boost the economy. If we can continue the good work we invested in 2010, work on our weaknesses, continue to improve our business friendliness and proactively attract high quality investors, 2011 could be a far better year than we predicted for the economy as a whole and real estate market in particular. I believe it will be.
Cayman Islands number of transfers 2008 to 2010
