I was invited to speak at the Luxury Real Estate International Conference in Paris this month. London was my first stop.
We are spoiled with 85F degree weather in the Caribbean almost 365 days a year! Europe in January is COLD. The Who’s Who In Luxury Real Estate’s 4th Annual International Conference was this month in Paris, and I was invited to be one of the presenters. Before the conference I traveled to London for a few days visiting one of the ten families that make up my “European family”. It is amazing to step into the pace of Europe with London as the first stop. It is one fast paced city!
My time in London was generally walking this beautiful city – from Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park, to the museums and art galleries. Another reason why I was in London was to meet with one of the partners of Deloitte – an international consulting firm for 
the top corporations of the world. My friend is in charge of their international real estate division. My meeting was to gather information regarding his view of what is predicted for Caribbean real estate markets in the midst of the global financial meltdown. It was a very insightful hour with him.
What we are seeing the past six months in Caribbean real estate sales is an abrupt slow down in sales that require a mortgage. And, the European buyers have almost disappeared. If you recall the Russians started showing up last year in the Caribbean and they are no longer visible. The real estate product that is predicted to thrive is the Fractional Deeded Ownerships, and the Residence Club products. The HOT market is expected to continue in the Dominican Republic. It was very useful to have this conversation given that we have already noticed these trends.
No matter what the economic conditions in the world we will still figure out a way to make lemonade out of lemons regarding real estate sales. Until my next report…fair winds.
