WILLEMSTAD - In less than a year, the number of homes sold has returned to pre-coronavirus levels. This is reported by the recent research of the 'The development of the housing market in the period 2010-2021' of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
It is not unknown that the Curaçao housing market is attractive to the Dutch. The reason for this is that the Dutch have a low mortgage interest rate, which means they have more to spend. For this reason, too, the interest in investing in homes on Curaçao has increased. As a result, despite stagnation, the local economy has little effect on housing market developments in Curaçao.
The strongest growth in market development was before the pandemic, namely the period 2015-2019. Both the number of transactions and sales values are experiencing a fairly strong increase.
The impact of the pandemic is clearly visible in the developments in the housing market. Before the corona virus, there was a peak in transactions and sales prices. However, this has fallen sharply in 2020, since when the corona pandemic broke out. From 2021 there will be positive developments on the market. This is mainly due to the relaxation of the measures and the vaccination rate.
The strong increase in the number of transactions on the housing market has also caused the prices of expensive homes to rise. This is not related to the demand for housing, but to the barriers in the production and supply of goods. As a result, the supply is lagging.
The neighbourhoods of Bandabou and Westelijk Willemstad show the most growth in the housing market. Bandabou in particular is an attractive area to live.
In addition to the pandemic and the attractiveness of a neighbourhood, every government action also affects the housing market. CBS takes the Pension Scheme as an example. For example, the government has entered into PPP projects with the private sector to attract private investment in housing projects for specific target groups.