Nevis’s beauty, “a far cry from the commercialism of other islands,” says Jon, they paid £170,000 for a 15-year- old plantation-style house with a wrap-around veranda and spent a further £70,000 adding a pool and refurbishing the interiors. “Most buyers at that time were building Florida-style houses on plots, but we preferred something quirkier with fi rst-fl oor living and where the outdoors is as important as indoors,” says Jon, who found the buying process was smooth and quick, with searches done by their lawyer and their Alien Land Holding Licence granted by the Government. Now the couple have moved to
Nevis full-time, “and life is wonderful out here,” says Jon. “Getting your fi rst crop of bananas is an exciting moment and the social life here can be exhausting as the snowbirds come out here for six months in winter and want to party all the time.” When the world’s property markets
were booming in the mid Noughties, Nevis came up with proposed high- end projects that focused on quality rather than quantity. To ensure this, the Government ordered that there could be no more than 2,000 beds on the island, so as not to put a strain on local labour and resources such as water and electricity. Some of those projects have since failed to materialise but demand for
properties has remained steady, according to Suzanne Gordon, who runs Sugar Mill Real Estate (www.
nevishouses.com), Savills’ associate in Nevis, and the lack of over-building on both islands means prices have not been driven down drastically during the economic crisis. “These islands have always had
a very small and very specifi c real estate market and people buy here because they have visited repeatedly and then fi nally decide they would like to own,” says Gordon, who says the main buyers are people nearing retirement age from the UK, US and Canada, “although we are starting to see younger families relocating. “The great appeal is the sense of intimacy,” Gordon adds. “With only 11,000 residents on Nevis, everyone knows everyone. There’s a saying on the island that ‘you’re only a stranger here once’. Even weekly visitors will get to know many expats and locals during a short stay. It’s really like living in a small town.” One new development proving popular on Nevis is Seaside at Cliffdwellers, with 14 buildings divided into two-four bedroom apartments and prices from US$795,000 to $1.4 million (£482,000-£848,000) through Sugar Mill Real Estate.
There are also some appealing
beachfront opportunities at Nelson’s Springs – so called as this is where Lord Nelson stopped at the springs to collect fresh water for his ships – on the undeveloped west coast, overlooking St Kitts. Apartments cost
Main opposite Pinney’s Beach, Nevis Left Jon and Nessa Reynolds, who live in Nevis This picture Verdant hills of St Kitts and Nevis
from £213,500 through Savills (
www.savills.co.uk/abroad). There is a wider variety of new- build options on larger St Kitts, an island of 68 square miles with a population 35,000. The Government’s big push to attract upmarket tourism to the island has seen a new wave of upmarket residential developments designed for overseas buyers. “We are seeing mainly American,
Russian, Middle Eastern and British buyers on our project and that’s typical of the island as a whole,” comments Damian Hamp-Adams at Ocean’s Edge, a high-end new residential development in Frigate Bay. The 178 beachfront and hillside apartments start at £216,000 through Savills and villas from US$1.4 million (£848,000). “This area, ten minutes’ drive from the capital Basseterre, is the hub of the island, with the fl agship Marriott hotel and most of the island’s tourism infrastructure including nightlife, golf courses, casinos,” says Hamp-Adams. Also around Frigate Bay is
Silver Reef, a new development of 62 properties, with one-bedroom apartments from US$300,000 (£182,000) and two-bedroom villas from $570,000 (£345,000), through Jackson Stops & Staff (www.jackson-
stops.co.uk). “The resort is on the edge of
the Royal St Kitts Golf Course, and there are the choppy Atlantic waves for surfi ng, but generally people come to St Kitts to be among nature, enjoy spectacular sea views and enjoy that real Caribbean-ness,” comments
JUNE 2011 A PLACE IN THE SUN 47
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