Rent

Because I've been looking around for a two bedroom apartment in Cayman, I decided to check out the rental market in Bermuda - just for kicks. What I found shocked me. There are very few one bedrooms, in and around town that are going for less than USD $2,300 The ones that are, are further away at the ends of the island. What was worse was the prices for the two bedrooms. What used to go for USD $3,000 is now going for USD $4,000 When did the rental market undergo such a drastic increase? And who on earth can afford these prices anymore? In the past, expats have often received a bad rap as the cause for the rise in rental prices, because the general assumption is that most expats receive housing allowances from their employers. This is so not true. For a few years now, most employers are NOT extending housing allowances to even its senior staff. As a result of which there is is a new breed of thinking from locals themselves. Many of them are boldly stating that the demand in the rental market has made many local landlords greedy, and therefore they are the ones setting the high rental prices. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Like Bermuda, the rental market in Cayman is quite competitive and strong. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan unleashed such devastation that there were a shortage of rental accommodations in the aftermath. Understandably rental prices skyrocketed. Since then Cayman has been building and building and building, to the point where there is now an abundance of rental accommodations. For the first time since Ivan, rental prices have begun to stabilize and will hopefully decrease. A nicely furnished two bedroom, close to town will cost you about CI$1,800 (USD $2,200), which when compared to Bermuda is a bargain, because most places here are nicely furnished, inclusive of cable (some with pool & gym access). Still it's a steep price to pay. Of course, location is everything and when were talking about an island, it's anything but cheap.