The TCI Market

Overview

The Turks & Caicos real estate market is an aspirational, dynamic investment vehicle for investors worldwide due to its low friction, investor-friendly environment. In addition, investors in North and South America particularly benefit from TCI's proximity to the eastern seaboards of both continents.

There are no income taxes on revenue from property, no capital gains tax on property transfers; no estate or inheritance taxes; and no corporate taxes or exchange controls.

Indirect, consumption-based national taxation only comes via customs duties, stamp duty on specific transactions, and departure tax. Furthermore, after payment of a one-time stamp duty charge payable to the Turks and Caicos Government on property purchase, the buyer is no longer burdened by taxes. On the island of Providenciales, this stamp tax is 10% and applies to both raw land and turn-key properties. This stamp tax does not apply to new builds/construction materials, creating a not-insignificant and favourable tax spread in the build vs. buy scenario. Additionally, there are no restrictions on foreign property ownership and no requirements from the Turks and Caicos Islands Government to develop land within a specific timeframe*. Undeveloped land may be held indefinitely for future use or investment. This is particularly beneficial to investors wanting to secure land but cannot currently finance or otherwise fund development.

*note: Purchasing land in a planned development may have requirements from the developer to build within a certain timeframe. SKAPE can help you determine if your desired parcel carries any timeline requirements

Build vs. Buy

The increasingly brisk real estate market has decreased the available inventory of turn-key properties, creating an imbalance where this inventory is priced significantly higher than the total cost of acquiring a parcel of land and building a custom property. Additionally, the bespoke build is wholly tailored to your unique taste as the potential resident or designed to maximize your return-on-investment (ROI) in the robust and often misunderstood short-term rental market of the Turks & Caicos.

The Turks & Caicos is an aspirational and globally desired travel destination. The short-term villa rental market creates a significant opportunity for investors to build a highly sought-after vacation residence and may see their total investment cost repaid over 10 years net of operating expenses such as housekeeping, groundskeeping, and property maintenance.

Market Analysis Reports

Courtesy of Sotheby's International Realty - Turks & Caicos

2021 Q3: Impressive TCI Market Continues Through Q3

Building on the record-breaking first half of the year, Q3, historically our slowest quarter, gained a whopping 319% over Q3 last year ($158,905,323 vs. $37,891,750), with year-to-date sales volume up over 150% over the first three quarters of last year ($496,710,829 vs. $198,330,657). These numbers represent historic events, of course, and with Canada and other countries now open for travel, we expect a strong fourth quarter with the caveat that all this great sales volume is resulting in constriction of inventory.

Led by a slew of trophy sales, and luxury villas (managed and standalone), single family homes have accounted for 56% of the total market y-t-d ($280,874,064 with an average price of $2,246,993) up 161% and 17% respectively. Condos account for 19.8% of the total market ($98,745,262) up 196% y-t-d). This number will normalize as new development condos at Ritz Carlton Grace Bay and Rock House are posted as closed. Raw land sales also displayed strong performance and have accounted for 21% of the total market and is up 123% year-on-year with an increase of 45% in average price from $397,363 to $576,371. Significant sales in Q3 included Coral Pavilion $15M, Footprints on the Beach $8.1M, Beach Enclave North Shore V4 $5.5M, Beach Enclave Long Bay V6 $5.45 and Hawk’s Nest Villa $2.77M.

2021 Q2: Turks & Caicos Real Estate Sales Continue at a Breakneck Pace!

The TCI real estate market is seemingly ‘too hot to handle as we witness yet another record-breaking quarter in sales volume along with pending/under construction sales not recorded within this amount! This first half of the year has just closed out with a staggering $328M in sales volume which is normally TCI’s yearly sales volume – in a very strong year! That’s a 105% increase over last years 2nd Quarter with an average price increase of 26%. All segments of the market saw increases contributing to this incredible spike in sales. Significant sales noted in this 2ndQ were, Turtle Tail Estate $20.25M, Villa Salacia $16M, Casa Tremor $7.995M, and The Estate at Grace Bay Club G504 $5M. The tourism industry is also witnessing record numbers in occupancy during this time as Turks & Caicos continues to flourish and to fulfill its destiny as a leading and premier upscale destination in the Caribbean. The resilient Turks & Caicos real estate and tourism market has sustained economic growth and real estate sales for the past eight years, and we expect to see continued growth, with new and exciting projects in the pipeline.

2021 Q1: TCI Real Estate Market Ascends To The Next Level

Following a breathtaking fourth quarter of 2020, the TCI real estate market has just closed an historical quarter of business with nearly $128,000,000 in closed transactions, up 60% over the same period last year with average price increases across each sector. What’s more, there are over $463,000,000 (you read that right!) in pending and conditional transactions and this leaves out another circa $100M in new development sales at the Ritz-Carlton Residences (set to open this summer), South Bank, Beach Enclave, Rock House, The Strand and other new development projects. There is a lot to unpack. First, it is clear for the post-COVID world that ultra-luxury and luxury markets have fully endorsed Turks & Caicos Islands as a preferred warm-weather destination. Also, a vacation property is now much more than simply a lifestyle investment, but a life investment and often an integral part of work, play and community, contributing to taking our market to the next level.

2020 Review: Turks & Caicos Real Estate Market Closes Like A Champ

The 2020 TCI real estate market performed better than we ever could have hoped for in the context of COVID–19, a four-month country-wide shutdown and stringent travel requirements. And I guess our task in this space is to seek to answer the question, as set forth by the great David Byrne of Talking Heads: “Well, how did we get here?!” Let’s start abroad: After the stock market cratered, it began to recover quickly and it became clear this was not a rerun of the 2008 financial crisis. Soon thereafter, we witnessed affluent buyers starting to move on luxury vacation property from Vail to Aspen, and from the Hamptons to South Florida. COVID–19 was triggering the opposite of the financial crash of September 2008, in that luxury real estate was highly desired by those looking for easy-to-access, safe-haven retreats away from urban areas and primary homes. With airports and resorts closed, and most commercial planes not flying, the luxury market was, quite urgently, seeking out real estate.