Rents push up cost of living
(CNS): The average prices of goods and services in the Cayman Islands, as estimated by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), increased by 2.2% in the second quarter of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016. The increase in the price index was largely fueled by a 7.9% rise in the price index for restaurants and hotels. But for local people, the increase in the cost of living over the first part of this year was down to an increase in rents or accommodation services, which grew a whopping 14.5% over last year. Clothes, utilities and food all went up, with dairy produce and fruit reflecting the highest price increase of 6.8% .
Read or download the Cayman Islands’ Consumer Price Index Report for June 2017 here.
Category: Local News
Thats when a Paradise Island population turn to hate and crime. It’s call survival for the Caymanians.
they na greedy…it just business man!?
What is the Cayman Islands Government do to provide affordable housing to their less well-to-do citizens?
I was reading recently that Hawaii is converting shipping containers into small apartments, at a location on the outskirts of Honolulu, to house their large homeless population. Should the CIG be looking at a similar programme?
Absolutely, Hawaii is not the only place where cube houses exist. But CIG wouldn’t be able to award a kickback riddled contract to construct a container housing project here. Upcycling is not yet in our vocabulary. We say just dash it away and buy a new one. Just grow the dump instead.
Dart wanted to build temporary containerized offices some time ago but shelved the idea due to red tape. Unless a very well connected Caymanian with magic keys to the process wants to do this expect the same treatment as the wood be lion fish & iguana meat processor is facing now. For every new thing that Cayman wants to do expect a lengthy and costly process to permit it unless you hold them magic keys.
Someone should start a co-operative market here. That could solve the high food prices to a good extent.
There is a farmers market already. The problem is the vast amount of food that is imported, with the economics of that meaning only a small number of families in the grocery trade can afford the infrastructure and working capital to make it work. Without any oversight on price fixing and with a small number of competitors the situation is ripe for abuse.
Cost of products at farmers market is more than the local produce section of the supermarkets!!
The US Prime Rate for mortgage has increased twice in the last few months, which is why the rents must have gone up?!
Organic is not really organic. Just buying labels.
To be honest prices are going up all over the world. At least we are not going thru what Venezuela is going thru.
Combat constant increase in COL by creating or joining a union and demanding pay raises. Its one of the most effective ways to shift power from the employer to the employees.
Great idea, except that it will make us even less competitive as those rises have to be paid for by someone…
Are dairy products not duty free for the large retailers?
I think the viable option in the name of transparency, sell the whole island to Dart, give all the natives the menial jobs like gardening, washing cars, restaurants waiters, etc….then no need for work permits. Dart will form his own government consisting of wealthy entrepreneurs like Richard Bronson, bill gates, warren Buffett and mark zuckerman with dart as premier/president. Technically Dart is skewing these numbers as he has kept cayman afloat with the many projects that he has ongoing. Take him out the equation and you would find how much cayman surplus is really a deficit.
Unfortunately, the economics of being dependent (addicted?) on large outside capital naturally creates a two-tier system where one area of town becomes too expensive and habitable only by wealthy foreigners while the local population gets pushed out of the town center.
This has tended to happen in most major cities. I visited London and San Francisco this year and hired tour guides in both cities. The tour guides described the same situation in both cities, being that they themselves could not afford to live in those cities but had to commute from nearby regions everyday to give city tours.
Not sure how to solve the above. One possible solution (although a bit too late) would be to limit land ownership to a certain total acreage so as not to have a few individuals cornering the property market.
Simple solution, don’t allow Caymanians to sell their property to greedy expat developers.
And how many apartments will be vacant now with the new Pension Law by the end of this year? Great move Tara!!!
then the rents will come down
Non-Bermudians and the purchasing of real estate
(http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20150430/BUSINESS/150439995)
Zoning and rent control could be possible fixes.
Same when I went to Barcelona…
Most merchants in Cayman buy goods from either China or North America at retail price. So if you and a few friends get together or not you can easily beat local prices on dry goods and hardware from the same vendors. Food is a different story, you still have to shop all 4 grocery chains to find the deals and I do regularly, just takes a bit of legwork and menu planning. There is a significant discrepancy between prices say between Hurleys and Kirk. Seems that Kirk caters to the “more money that sense” crowd who like “organic” on all their food labels, as if it really is. Don’t shop their much unless I need some exotic fairy dust for my Sunday dinner.
The big 3 grocery merchants have us by the ball$, lets face it the trend is only going one way and the politicians aren’t going to investigate price gouging any time soon. Feel sorry for the born and bred less fortunate Caymanians they’ll be going the way of the Dodo, sold out by their own, which is a travesty. Shop wisely and find ways to live within your means people.
People with a victim mentality blame others for their misfortune.
Be happy that this country attracts people who can buy only organic. You wouldn’t want to be surrounded by people who mostly eat ramen noodles 10ea for 99¢, would you?
Actually I would . The people that have to resort to eating ramen noodles bear really now how to survive. You might need their insight one day if our food supply is. It via a natural disaster or war. Go on living your living your jaded high on the hog life and.certainly continue buying your so called organic food if you think it’s better for you. Don’t get me started on food contaminants as you have no idea what’s in your organic food or water for that matter. Remember we don’t have a one that checks here so take your chances.
So you are assuming that those who buy organic in the Cayman Islands were born with a silver spoon in their mouths and deserve your comments?
I came to the US speaking no English (though educated), with 2 little children on a tourist visa. Never driven a car either.
I had to swallow my pride (I held a management position in my country), and start doing all the dirty jobs that Americans refuse to do- I was starting my day at 3.30am to do paper routes then babysitting and then cleaning jobs. I was in my 20s and very attractive and had to clean offices that included bathrooms/toilets. I also started attending University part time.
Several years later I purchased my own brand new condo and became a certified and licensed professional. And now, I am buying organic in your beautiful country and enjoy all the perks that money could give.
SO PLEASE, DON’T ASSUME things about people you know nothing about! One thing is to know how to survive, another is how to live and prosper.
May I ask why you go for the organic labelled stuff or is it because it’s touted as being best for your body by media hype? Chances are your paying triple the price for your food that’s grown in the same $hit as the stuff that doesn’t have an organic sticker. How could you know for sure? Follow like sheep do you? Keep drinking that rosy koolaid if it makes you feel better.
Yes and move to the Cayman Islands tax free. Really ???
when Mr. Miller wanted to up the duty free allowance from $ 350 to $ 700 for Caymanians returning home, the ruling Govt. shot it down, and we still will vote them in again, we are fool fool. I believe Americans and Canadians returning home is allowed $800 duty free.
Dear CIG (Cayman Islands Gov)
Your island is officially gone to s#!+. Are you going to do anything to bring it back? Alden / Mckeeva? Anything? Look at your local people. they are done! they are finished. they are un-happy and upset. look at the way the Cayman Islands is going.
What is the CIG plan? every time it fails, sell it to DART? Serious Alden? Mckeeva? whats your plan of action here … in case you didnt realize … but you ALL need a plan! But that requires care for your people .. “the locals” not the rich. But you all don’t care …. prices going up and PAY going no where, unless your an expat, its for sure you will get that raise, but if you local, you live here, why u need a raise for? This IS NOT YESTERDAYS NEWS …. this is and has been a problem that both parties PPM/CDP or the (“CDPPM”) always NEGLECT!! … Cant wait for next election, just to see the same jackasses vote Mckeeva and Alden back in …. Imagine we have ONE / UNO / 1 / SINGLE power company, with no competition and yet, HEW/FORTIS likes to break it off in all of us. And what will the Gov Do … WWGD?
14.5% for rent, I guess that is an island wide average? many places in 7-Mile, & west bay up 30-40%
Landlords must be covering the losses they foresee when their tenants leave year end because to collect their pensions.
What’s next; the supermarkets and all other merchants raise their prices to cover the loss in sales?
Interest rates are increasing. Therefore loan payments are also going up, or, if the payment stays the same, less is going towards the principal. Cause and effect.
Any business person will raise prices in the face of increases expenses.
My crooked land lord increased my rent by a whole $200.00 per month this year. I stuck around after realizing that it wasn’t only his crooked ass doing it, but other crooked land lords too.
leave then…..
I think the person explained why they opted to stay. Reading is fundamental.
I think the commenter clearly meant leave the island. As you said reading is fundamental.
I did not specify whether or not I was an expat, so you assumed as did the other commenter (if in fact that’s how they meant it). Sorry to burst your bubble but I’m Caymanian born and raised. Your next question might be why not just buy a place? I’m still working to save the almost $50k deposit to the bank to purchase my first home. I finished college 5 years ago so I don’t have much work history and I’m not inclined to drain my pension like so many others have done. So yes, reading is fundamental…..even for you!
I could easily have raised the rent to my tenants, but they are GREAT so will not risk them leaving, maybe you should ensure you’re a great tenant too?
Not every landlord is like you. You’re tenants are so lucky that they are staying in your place. I’ve been a good tenant but my landlord thinks more money is important than having good tenants.
I’m a fantastic tenant, lived there almost 4 years, never late with payments. In my 4 plus years, I’ve had a total increase of $350.00 I thought like you, that he wouldn’t risk it considering I’ve been an excellent tenant, but he’s just a money hungry bastard like I’ve been told by many ppl after sharing my experience.
Mine went up by $500 a month 🙁
Also to the horrible person who commented “leave then” where do you expect people to go? All the rents have increased.
That just seemed to go over the idiot’s head and the other idiots that liked the comment.
Mortgages were also raise by the crooked banks this year…the ripple effect…
With empty appartments coming on the market as people start to leave (and now is the time) then the rents will drop or they will have empty places just costing them money.
By local people you mean those f us who will be facing extinction in a few years, and who have no one to yturn to, for the Government we elect yesterday and today is full of platitudes ; travelling to Honduras to make a treaty on reduction of cost of food /imports and nary a word since that glorious trip. wa ona expeect any better from highly salaried wana bes now MLAS ( talking bout all a ona). Its ben 5 months and foreclosures still a hot issue, inflation rising so is cost of living and definitely peoples blood pressure. Politicos you got a chance to effect positive change for who we the people wa happen are you stuck in first gear or ya need a swift kick.
PSPB, says the cost of living did not go up for the last 2 years, i wonder where they are living, sure is not in the Cayman Islands
Unbelievable. Just bleeding mad prices. WTF!
The poverty created in Cayman by these greedy bastard merchants is starting to do my head in.
The poverty is created by its importation and by governments efforts to pay for it by increasing duties on even the most basic staples.