Cayman Real Estate Purchase Incentive
With less than one month remaining on the special reduction of stamp duty on property transfers, the Cayman Islands Government is set to extend the real estate purchase incentive, possibly for another six months, a reliable source told us!
While the stamp duty reduction has been in effect for 17 months now, a Remax real estate agent thinks it has only started helping over the last year or so. "Since 80% of our real estate business comes from off-shore, I found there was a lead time of six to nine months before our foreign investors found out about the reduction and got down here to look at properties."
Besides increasing sales to overseas investors, he says the measure also helped another market. "The stamp duty reduction, along with the low interest rates and the low down-payment terms being offered by banks, have stimulated the local housing market a great deal," he says, adding, "I would certainly like to see the stamp duty reduction extended for another six months."