An Under-The-Radar Caribbean Luxury Real Estate Market

It’s part of a sizable economy, on the Caribbean coast and full of historic charm. And it’s among the region’s hippest cities.

But it’s a real estate market not generally on the radar of most would-be home or apartment buyers in the Caribbean.

But that should be changing.

Cartagena, Colombia, the colonial beach city on the country’s Caribbean coast, has a rare cocktail of rising prices but falling currency rates — making it a great opportunity for buyers armed with US dollars.

That’s among the findings of Christie’s Real Estate’s Luxury Defined White Paper.

For example, a given three-story apartment in Cartagena has seen a 10 percent increase in local housing prices, but a 22 percent decline in currency rates.

That means that an apartment that cost a buyer $1.9 million in 2014 now costs $1.5 million.

Indeed, Colombia has “developed a unique appeal to dollar-paying buyers, making it possible for them to buy a property at a much lower price than previously,” says Veronica Davila of Julio Corredor & CIA.