08 Nov BCQS Releases 2018 Market Trend Report

BCQS Releases 2018 Market Trend Report
Foreword

BCQS is the longest serving cost consultancy firm in the property, development and construction industry across the Caribbean and Latin America. With nearly fifty years of experience in over thirty countries, BCQS has built on its reputation as the leading independent multi-disciplinary consultancy of its kind in the region, accompanied by its close allegiance with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

With an ever increasing and diversifying client base, new and challenging commissions, and a wealth of regional in-house expertise, this report continues to provide a valuable guide on construction costs throughout the region.

In a continuation of our previous proforma, we remain focused on ten key Caribbean jurisdictions where BCQS has offices or those that hold a strategic presence, these being the Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Within Latam, once again we review Brazil and Colombia.

Our office in Colombia continues to flourish amongst the demands of the South American market, although Brazil has suffered from widely publicised political and economic issues. Overall the Latam market is known at times to be turbulent and challenging, but it continues to be potentially poised for explosive growth in many countries.

Past and current BCQS commissions for Credit Suisse, Bloomberg, Fox Sports, Scotiabank, Unilever and the like, continue to demonstrate the appeal of Latam to blue chip multinationals.

The indices in this report provide escalation costs for building materials, plant and labour to reflect market trends, which are then used to drive the general square foot or per square meter budget costs on various property types. Similarly, our report also extends to provide some guidance in local and regional sales and rentals values.

In an attempt to provide the reader of the report with a fuller understanding of the Caribbean marketplace, and add depth to the construction and property data, we have collated useful information in relation to government statistics, cost of living factors, and tourist sources and numbers. This data should greatly assist developers/lenders/contractors in assessing the initial viability of any chosen project.