COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE IN KINGSTON JAMAICA

Real estate is divided into several different aspects; there is commercial real estate, residential real estate, rental real estate and other types of industrial Jamaican real estate. Throughout this article we examine the pros and the cons of commercial real estate. Primarily many Jamaican real estate investors choose not to invest heavily in commercial real estate in the capital city because of the ever changing environment. One major attribute is assuming property is bought to construct a small factory and to house staff as well in the area.

Once this is done there might be smoke emissions that are a health hazard to residents in and around the area, causing a problem and likely to shut down production. Making the real estate almost useless. Many investors state that this is not a great concern to them because most industrial type work or factory work is not apt for real estate.

Though this might be true, they would not have seen how this could change the value of the real estate from X dollars to ½ of X dollars, simply because the possibilities that can be done with the Jamaican property have been done in because of the residential concerns and this drives down the price of real estate.

There is of course some truth to the fact that commercial real estate usually takes the form of retail sales or corporate offices. This is very true, however there can be grave issues surrounding the real estate of this type and once again it is the environment that does greatly affect the Jamaican property value. Let us assume that commercial real estate is purchased in the downtown area and this is the best know spot for both retail sales and corporate offices.

However the communities that surround the Jamaican property are extremely volatile, almost much like a war zone at times. This causes two major problems, it deters customers both corporate and retail from visiting your business and it devalues you property.

Another major problem is that it balloons the price of other property that normally would not be valued as much. Let us assume a two story building in in the down town area might value 25 Million while that same building in the New area might be valued at 250 Million, just because of the environment. This ballooning of property is a major problem because it takes away from the laws of supply and demand and skews the value of commercial property.

Purchasing commercial property is no different from purchasing any other type of Jamaican property, the most important thing is that you must get clearance from the KSAC or Kingston and St. Andrew Council to find out if this community is zoned as only residential property, commercial property or both. This can have dire consequences.

Many Jamaica land investors have purchased land previous used in the capacity of either commercial or residential only to discover that they are shut down because of zoning laws. This is a major concern as in the past land was not marshaled very well and in many Jamaican communities we see small shops open from homes. This practice is illegal and takes away from the value of commercial land.