The Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Ryan Straughn, announced plans for a more standardized property valuation process in Barbados. The government intends to introduce new legislation to Parliament to align property valuations for insurance, land tax payments, and property sales. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and International Property Tax Institute’s 10th Caribbean Valuation and Construction Conference, Minister Straughn highlighted concerns about the inconsistency in property valuations for different purposes.
He emphasized the disparity between property valuations for insurance, tax, and sale, noting that these variations create challenges in negotiations and can lead to underinsurance. To address these issues, the government plans to collaborate with stakeholders and introduce a new valuation bill, although no specific timeline was provided.
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Minister Straughn stressed the importance of establishing the right regulations and policies to provide clarity on investment types, government incentives, and collaboration between residents and industry stakeholders. Accurate data on the real estate market is deemed essential to encourage greater investment, and the minister expressed the government’s consideration of developing a house price index to document property sales nationwide.
Recognizing the significant contribution of the real estate industry to the economy, Minister Straughn expressed concern about the lengthy duration of property transactions. He assured that the government is committed to digitizing the land registry, aiming to reduce the time required for information exchange and transaction closure to between seven and 14 days.
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Corey Knight, Manager of Corporate Credit at Republic Bank, and James Edghill, a developer and co-founder of construction development firm One Builders, welcomed the idea of a more uniform property valuation system. Knight acknowledged the confusion faced by lending institutions due to vastly different valuations, while Edghill supported the concept of a house price index for improved information sharing among real estate agents and valuators.
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