CARIBBEAN CANOUAN:Buyers don't blink at paying over €3 for villas on Canouan, a resort island 40 minutes' away from Barbados
AT A PUSH most people could name half a dozen Caribbean islands – Jamaica, Bahamas, Barbados, St Vincent, Puerto Rico and Trinidad are probably the first that spring to mind and then there are the ones that are regularly featured in glossy lifestyle and travel magazines, such as Mustique, Martinique, St Lucia, or Richard Branson’s Necker Island.
But in fact there are over 700 islands in the Caribbean. Most are tiny and uninhabited but in recent years even some of these are being developed as exclusive holiday destinations such as Musha Cay, owned by magician David Copperfield, the most expensive resort in the Bahamas, where he charges guests $350,000 (€247,000) for a week’s stay.
The transformation of the tiny Grenadine island of Canouan – a 40-minute flight from Barbados – into a holiday destination has been going on since the mid-1990s.
It’s been driven by owners of the Grenadine Estate, an area of land which takes up 1,200 acres of the 1,600-acre island: it is now a gated community that includes a four-star Raffles Resort, an 18-hole championship golf course run by the Trump organisation and a range of holiday villas, from ones that can be bought off plans, to plots of land where buyers design and build their own holiday home.
Canouan is a typical picture-postcard Caribbean island with lush greenery in the centre and fringed by pristine white sandy beaches.
The Caribbean sea is one side, the Atlantic on the other; there’s a vast coral reef which makes it paradise for scuba divers and snorkelers and the sea is that impossible-to-describe or replicate shade of blue.
It’s been enough of an attraction for one Irish investor who has already snapped up one of the 23 holiday villas being built in this first phase of development.
The villas are beautiful, set on over an acre of lush landscaped gardens. Most have three bedrooms, around 370sq m (3,983sq ft) and a pool, and a layout that maximises the stunning sea views.
Nineteen villas have already been sold for $4.5 million (€3.17m), a price tag that at this end of the market in the Caribbean doesn’t make buyers even blink.
The majority of buyers have gone for the optional extra of a one-bedroom detached guest cottage (bringing the price up to $4.9 million/€3.45m). Buyers – who to date have come from Ireland, Italy, Britain and the US – have mostly opted for the turnkey package offered by the Grenadine Estates paying, on average, an extra $200,000 (€140,000) to have their homes furnished, plus $13,000 (€9,166) for the TV package (flat screens in all rooms) and a startling $12,000 (€8,461) for the crockery package which takes care of all the tableware you’d need for everyday use and for lavish dinner parties.
Owners also pay a monthly service charge of approx $900 (€634) but this depends on the level of service and maintenance required. It’s the sort of place where every whim can be catered for – from a chef to come to cook you a gourmet dinner every night to getting a trampoline put in the garden.
For buyers who want something different, and more land, there’s the option of buying a plot and building your own. There are 20 “estate lots” left for sale (out of 30 in the first phase) and prices range from $3.2 million (€2.25m) for 3.73 acres to $4.3 million (€3.03m) for 4.1 acres. As is usual with private estates, there are building guidelines to make sure that the houses fit in with the rest of the island.
Looking back from the beaches towards the villas that have been built, it’s notable how well they blend in with the scenery and that’s something that the estate managers are obviously keen to maintain.
Ownership of a holiday villa includes access to the amenities in the seriously upmarket Raffles resort which include sailing, tennis, four restaurants, a casino, and beaches with waiter service.
One of the beaches even has a large swimming pool with a pool bar, although with the warm Caribbean sea lapping at your feet, it’s difficult to understand why you wouldn’t opt for waves.
There are several beaches dotted around the estate and as there are no cars, holiday makers get around in electric golf buggies.
There’s also a spectacular Raffles-run spa – the Amrita Spa – where getting a treatment means being brought in an open lift up to your own private treatment hut set in the hillside where the only sounds are the waves outside.
After your massage, you sit drinking cinnamon tea on your own veranda.
Golf is big with island visitors (the course was designed by Jim Fazio) and villa owners must pay a refundable deposit of $100,000 (€70,465) to join the Trump International Golf Club and a monthly membership fee of $9,000 (€6,341).
Villa owners can rent out their properties through a programme managed by Raffles and the rent at the highest point of the high season – from December 19th-January 8th – is an impressive $11,500 (€8,105) per week.
In low season, owners can expect to rent out their homes for $4,000 (€2,819) per week.
Getting to Canouan is long but easy. Barbados is an eight-hour flight from London and from there it’s a 40-minute hop to Canouan. A private jet speeds up the transfer, taking 28 minutes to get from Barbados.
Info@grenadinesestate.com
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BUYING IN CANCOUN
There are no legal restrictions on a European buying in Canouan.
Taxes:the buyer pays approximately 16 per cent tax on the land price and that includes the stamp duty; that is the only time that he/she will pay tax. If buyers join the Raffles rental programme, they have to pay 15 per cent VAT on rental income.
Currency:the Eastern Caribbean Dollar (EC$) is the local currency but property transactions are conducted in US dollars.
Other legal requirement:as the seller, the Grenadine Estate applies for the indenture of the land and an alien land holding license for the buyer. Only if the buyer decides to register a company in St Vincent The Grenadines will there be legal requirements.
Time:eastern standard zone (five hours behind GMT).
Climate:tropical, there is not much variation in temperature which is around 29° C. The rainy season is from June 1st until November 1st.
