Real estate market facing interest rate blues

President of the Realtors Association Gabrielle Gilpin Hudson has observed that the high interest and mortgage rates are having a negative impact on the volume of sales they are doing now, compared with the years 2024 and 2025.

 

She said it is against this background that the Association has been urging members of the Jamaica Bankers Association to reduce their lending and mortgage rates.

 

Ms. Hudson noted, however, that the Bankers Association argued that the asset tax and other regulatory fees make it difficult for them to reduce interest rates at this point.

 

The calls for the commercial banks to reduce their interest rates intensified, following the Bank of Jamaica's recent decision to cut its benchmark or signal rate to 5.50% per annum from 5.75% per annum, but the banks want the asset tax to be reduced or removed before they can cut the rates.