Barbados Property For Sale |
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| Written by tolumi | ||
| Wednesday, 03 December 2008 13:30 | ||
Barbados Property For SaleFaith Glasgow takes a winter break to view the property scene in Barbados Barbados is launching itself into the twenty-first century with an enviable reputation - not only as a gorgeous coral island but also as the long-standing haunt of the beautiful people. For decades, the likes of the Cunards and the Guinnesses wintered discreetly in elegant Bajan mansions on the west coast; the hefty costs of getting and staying there were a most effective means of excluding the masses. Barbadps Property For Sale - Profile Of BarbadosOver recent years, however, the profile of Barbados’ propertied visitors has changed. At the very top of the market, ‘new’ money has arrived in a big and increasingly brash way; at the same time, new property developments have opened the way to a much broader spectrum of wealth than ever before. Indeed, the island is experiencing a construction boom the likes of which it has never seen - and it shows no sign of abating over the next two or three years. From its privileged position as the Caribbean’s Monaco, playground of an international elite, Barbados appears to be reinventing itself more along the lines of Marbella, as the private houses get flasher and a growing (often sports-oriented) monied, middle market establishes itself. Barbados Property For Sale & The Western ProsperityIn part, the island’s boom reflects western prosperity (it has always been a British stronghold in particular, and British tourists accounted for 36 per cent of the 1998 long-stay trade). But most of these buyers are no retirees: this is the face of the new Barbados, fuelled by entrepreneurial, sporting and celebrity wealth. They may be taking time out, but they need to stay in close touch with their businesses. Barbados, strong on telecommunications and with excellent air links around the world (including weekly Concorde flights from London and New York), outshines its less developed Caribbean neighbours as a sophisticated holiday base.Unsurprisingly then, the island is no bargain basement when it comes to property. For most holidaymakers, the main point of a Caribbean holiday home (whether owned or rented) is proximity to the sea and the sand; but land on the famous west coast, where the calmest waters, most perfect beaches and grandest houses are, comes at a huge premium - if you can obtain it at all. Increasingly, buyers are pushed inland from the west coast, to the old plantation houses and the new sporting developments on high ground with sea views and breezes. Barbados Property For Sale - Slice Of ParadiseSo how much do you need to be able to afford a slice of paradise? That depends very much on how far you are prepared to compromise. Cove Spring House, in the ultra-smart parish of St James, is the most expensive house currently for sale on the island (through Sotheby’s). Newly built and absurdly large, it is priced at US$17.5 million - but it has languished on the market for over a year.Even if you don’t go for such ostentation - and it seems out of place in Barbados, where so much of daily life takes place in the open air that acres of indoor living space seems simply redundant - you can expect to pay several million dollars for most property on the west coast. If you happen across anything for sale, that is. Which makes the new development at gorgeous Mullins Bay a particularly interesting proposition. It’s taking place on one of the last two pieces of virgin land on the coast (to put Barbados’s real estate boom into perspective, this six-acre site was bought 15 years ago for US$1 million; the other, a 2.5-acre beachfront site nearby, is now on the market for US$8 million). Barbados Property For Sale & The Joint VentureThe development is a joint venture between architect Peter Instone and Yorkshire multi-millionaire Barry Rubery. Instone has been heavily influenced by the beautiful Bajan houses of the stage designer Oliver Messel, which make much strategic use of views, natural stone and wood, and the interface between indoors and outdoors, to create a cool, calm Caribbean atmosphere. “The emphasis at Mullins Bay is on open space and large gardens,” he says. “We had planning consent for 54 houses but we’ve reduced that to just 21 in order to give them the extra space they need.”The prices, of course, reflect the luxury of such space: the largest house, a five-bedroom Great House right on the beach, will cost around US$5 million, while smaller plantation-style houses with pools are priced from US$2.9 to US$3.5 million. There will also be a number of three-bedroom town houses costing from US$900,000. Barbados Property For Sale - International MarketApart from Mullins Bay, there are several other substantial schemes slanted towards the international market currently under way on the island. Further up the west coast, the Bajan-funded Port St Charles project has involved the transformation of a former cow pasture into Barbados’s only marina, now teeming with marine life, including turtles.Two out of five phases of the development are finished, and phases three and four are now being built and sold. It’s a mix of one, two and three-bedroom townhouses and apartments on the waterfront, with a handy water taxi to ferry residents around; but the big selling point for the many sailing and watersports enthusiasts who flock to Barbados is that each property comes with its own berth inclusive in the price. Barbados property For Sale - Affordable LevelPrices start at a distinctly more affordable level than at Mullins Bay - reflecting the more functional scale of many of the units. Thus, one bedroom apartments in phase three are priced at US$450,000-US$550,000, while three bedroom properties in phase four cost around US$1 million. But you could spend a great deal more: there are several penthouses at around US$2.2 million, while phase five consists of larger beachfront villas priced at US$3-8 million. Harry Manning estimates there are another three years of building still to go; about half of the 120 units have been built so far.On the rising ground behind the coast, meanwhile, stands the Royal Westmoreland golfing development, the first ‘international residential community’ project to come to Barbados. In the five years of its existence, the 500-acre Royal Westmoreland has attracted the likes of Ian Woosnam, Virginia Wade and Mike Gatting as buyers. Prices for a two/three bedroom club villa start from around US$800,000, but the grandest bespoke mansions on the estate are worth up to US$8 million. For that sort of money you have access to the 18 hole course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr, and a large number of fellow Brits with whom to drink in the club house. Not to mention the chance to make substantial sums by trading up - one resident has made over £1 million through a string of shrewd moves.
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 06 January 2009 14:44 |
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