Over recent years Antigua has become one of the favorite destinations in the Caribbean for people looking for second or retirement homes. Antigua offers a wide variety in villas and land for sale from managed resorts to individually built homes and vacant building plots. The worldwide economic downturn has also affected Antigua. After years of increasing sales and sales prices the market has slowed down since the fall of 2008 and prices have come down to levels which were seen a few years ago. The property market has not seen major disruption like in many other markets and there are hardly any distressed sales. Most property owners have a large equity share in their property. Prices were not inflated and were very reasonable compared to more developed islands like Barbados, Bahamas, St Martin and St Barths. The banking scene in Antigua is dominated by large canadian banks and smaller indigenous banks. Both have been very conservative in their lending and investment policies and remain in good shape. With the current reduced price levels, Antigua offers excellent opportunities for purchasers.
