LONDON – Until about ten years ago, it was a statement of unmitigated luxury to have a holiday home in the Caribbean – and "Caribbean" usually meant Barbados.

It is an island that is easy to love, inspiring long-term devotion in most of the British who visit, and who make up the vast majority of second-home buyers there.

Barbados' sublime West Coast is the key attraction, with turquoise sea you simply melt into, and a lush tropical coastline with a world of tasteful but immense wealth tucked among the palms and pines.

It's a safe, welcoming, family-friendly destination, with a perfect climate that hits its best just as the United Kingdom reaches its wintry nadir. Even the flight times are easy: leave England around 10 a.m. and you can be on the beach by late afternoon.

But lately, progressive governments on nearby islands, notably St Lucia and Grenada, have latched on to the idea of boosting tourist numbers, which is essential to their economy, by building more holiday homes. Along with that come new roads, marinas and golf courses, more direct flights from the UK
– and suddenly Barbados has some competition.

So, faced with emerging (and better-value) neighbours, can Barbados' property market survive on loyalty and kudos alone – or must it now raise its game to appeal to a wider range of buyers and budgets?

Celebrity villa owners

The salubrious 500-acre Royal Westmoreland golf resort is moving with the times. With a cast list of celebrity villa owners that includes Andrew Flintoff, Ian Woosnam and Gary Lineker, you would think the vast estate overlooking the sea could rest on its laurels.

It did for several years, when its reputation was enough to sell it. But now its English owner, John Morphet, is breathing £250 million (BDS$1.03 million) worth of new life into the estate, buying a further 250 acres that will see 250 new homes, ranging from one-bedroom apartments at £300 000 (BDS$1 235 134) to palatial £10 million (BDS$41.17 million) villas, a second 18-hole golf course and five-star hotel.

Buyers get better value for money by being a mile or so inland, but just so they don't miss out on beach life the resort's new beach club and spa on lovely Mullins Bay, one of the few undeveloped stretches of sand left on the West Coast, opens next month.

Where emerging islands require buyers to take a leap into the unknown, Barbados' strength is that it is a tried, tested and trusted market, according to Ian Cox, Royal Westmoreland's head of sales and golf.

"Younger buyers will look at emerging markets such as St Lucia or Grenada, but people in their 50s don't want to wait 10 years for a resort to be ready," he says.

"The biggest developers in the Caribbean are based in Barbados, so finding the £500 000 (BDS$2.1 million) per hole it takes to build a new golf resort isn't a problem. But some smaller developers on other islands such as St Lucia are having liquidity problems since the United States credit crunch. Several new golf developments have been put on hold."

Endless outlets for millions

A scan of those on the flight back to London suggests Barbados attracts a similar British crowd to Marbella, from the aspirers to the already-made-its. While you can find endless outlets for your millions on Barbados – Simon Cowell has reportedly invested some of his fortune into two off-plan villas at the new Four Seasons resort where prices start at £3.4 million – it is also possible to find high-spec developments overlooking the West Coast that offer value for money.

At Sugar Hill, a 50-acre tennis estate with sea views, one-bedroom villas cost from £204 000 (BDS$ million) through Knight Frank's associate, Bajan Services. For similarly affordable luxury, off-plan two-bedroom apartments at Maynards Point, overlooking the Caribbean coast, start at £160 000 (BDS$657 807) through the same agent.

"Royal Westmoreland offers great value for money for British buyers, given the exchange rate," says Ian Cox.

"It's a low-density development with fantastic facilities on an island where space is in short supply and there is shortage of rental accommodation. Very average hotel rooms cost upwards of £250 (BDS$1028) a night whereas a Royal Westmoreland villa that sleeps six rents out for £275 to £450 (BDS$1131 to BDS$1851) a night, depending on the season."

Feel safe

After 15 years of spending holidays in Barbados, such was their confidence in the product that Simon Paul, 49, and his wife Laura, 39, from St Albans, Hertfordshire, have bought a three-bedroom villa at Royal Westmoreland for £800 000 (BDS$3.29 million) without even viewing it first.

"We spend summers touring Europe with our daughter Hannah, aged 19, who is an international show-jumper, so we wanted somewhere to use for a few months each winter," says Paul, a semi-retired businessman.

"We looked around the Caribbean, and also the Bahamas and Dubai, but we kept coming back to the idea of Barbados. We feel very safe here, which we didn't on other islands. Max, our six-year-old son, can wander around freely. The quality of the properties here is outstanding and the golf course is fabulous," he added.

Currently renovating the 12-year-old villa so that it has a more Bajan feel, the Pauls have recruited local property management company Planned Maintenance to oversee all work. "We wanted to use local tradespeople who make all the furniture by hand. Otherwise you pay a fortune and have to wait months to get it shipped over from Europe," says Laura. "Knowing that this management company will take care of everything has made renovating here while living in the UK entirely feasible. We also feel we have bought at a great time. It's fabulous value here if you're a Brit."

Lower prices

The Barbadian dollar is tied to the American dollar, which of course is in decline. This, says Mark O'Sullivan, head of trading at Currencies Direct, means that Caribbean property, usually presumed to be beyond the means of most people, can be found at similar or even lower prices than parts of Europe.

"There are great buying opportunities for British and European investors on all the islands that have pegged their currency against the dollar. That includes Barbados, Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia and St Kitts," says O'Sullivan.

"You can buy an off-plan apartment on Barbados for around £180 000 (BDS$740 383) and expect good growth of around eight to ten per cent a year and rental appeal to both a European and American client base."

Competition from emerging islands will not make Barbados compromise its standards, believes Richard Eames from Island Villas, Savills International's associate.

"The weak dollar has seen a surge in sales in the whole region in the past six months, but Barbados remains a step ahead of other Caribbean markets and its future developments on the West Coast will be more exclusive and more expensive," he says, citing the Four Seasons and the Banyan Tree as strong international names that reinforce the island's desirability.
(The Telegraph)