Talk show host warns of slowdown in BVI real estate market

Talk show host Claude Skelton Cline revealed that the BVI real estate market has experienced a sharp slowdown, with total transaction values plummeting by more than half in just two years.

“Overall real estate market activity in the BVI slowed in 2023 and 2024. The total volume of transactions measured by dollar value fell by more than half, from 156 million in 2022 to 69 million in 2024,” Skelton Cline stated during a recent broadcast of his Honestly Speaking radio show.

Citing a recent analysis of local sales data, he explained that the 2022 figure was inflated due to a single high-value transaction. “The record high figure in 2022 was skewed by a single land sale of 45 million dollars — one land sale in Oil Nut Bay Estate,” he noted.

A deeper look at the figures revealed a drop in local property sales. “Sales to belongers, which were strengthened in 2020 and 2021 by the government’s Stamp Duty Waiver Programme, also fell from a peak of 83 million in 2021 to 38 million in 2024,” he explained.

Foreign investment saw an even steeper decline. “Sales to non-belongers declined more sharply, from a record high of 116 million in 2022 to 30 million in 2024,” he added.

According to the data, the number of sales to non-belongers fell to just 22 in 2024—marking the lowest figure since 2012. “Although there were only 22 sales to non-belongers in 2024, the total value of those sales was approximately 30 million, compared with 194 sales to belongers with a value of 38 million,” Skelton Cline stated.