Who has not dreamed of one day having an island to themselves, far away from the continent’s crowded beaches, concrete buildings and exorbitant prices? This dream of immaculate shores is becoming a reality for an increasing number of enthusiasts. With about 100,000 small islands scattered around the globe, too small to appear on maps, the offer is far greater than what one might initially think, which is why many real estate companies have turned towards this booming sector.
Among the latter, Vladi Private Islands, based in Hamburg, sells islands all over the world. “You needn’t be a Robinson Crusoe or a millionaire to own an island,” Farhad Vladi, the agency’s founder and manager, likes to say. “If you can buy a car, you can buy an island.” Indeed, the vast majority of his sales are between 200,000 and 800,000 dollars, the average being around 300,000 dollars.
For example, the cheapest island he sold (1,500 dollars) was a huge 500 square meter rock located in Lake Charlotte in Canada’s Nova Scotia province. The most expensive one, Norman Island, in the British Virgin Islands, was sold for 12 million dollars. The most spacious (30 million square meters) was Eigg Island, on Scotland’s Western coast. To this day, the company, with a database containing more than 10,000 sites, has sold near to 2,000 private islands. “The most sought-after regions today are in North America and the Caribbean,” explains the entrepreneur, who makes around 30 deals a year and proposes rentals in more than 40 destinations, costing between 75 and 7,500 dollars a day.
Although it is difficult to establish a typical profile, the people who acquire islands are first and foremost emotional buyers and not speculators. Another particularity, according to Farhad Vladi is that most of them are strong individualists determined to bring a personal touch to a territory that belongs solely to them. The love of nature and a good faculty to improvise are additional distinctive and desirable characteristics. You must be able to deal with the unexpected such as power failures, have equipment frequently brought in from outside, be able to start up a generating set, treat and salvage rainwater, etc.
Of course, the higher the investment, the less trouble: “Nowadays, it is far easier to settle down on an island than thirty years ago,” explains Farhad Vladi. “One can easily provide a prefabricated house, electricity, a telephone and drinking water within a period of three months.” In short, the value of an island depends on three factors: the proximity of civilized areas, the presence of fresh water and the presence of a house.
As crowds of holidaymakers invade the world’s beaches one after the other, and more agencies in London, Miami or the Bahamas turn towards the private islandmarket. In Geneva, the Société Privée de Gérance real estate office has proposed three islands a year to its customers since 1998. It is presently selling a small 15 hectare island located to the south of Bock Cay in the Exuma region in the Bahamas for 7 million dollars. “This is not only a quick wink, but a true global service, a privileged access to a network of contacts, skills, and know-how at the international level that we provide to a clientele possessing a strong purchasing power and that wishes to invest abroad,” explains Christine Esseiva-Sarosi, in charge of publications.
The island market does not appeal only to private individuals looking to escape from the stress of everyday life. It is also directly aimed at companies. In 2004, a business based in Luxemburg thus bought the very flashy Fisher Island, opposite Miami. Numerous companies purchase islands in order to organize business trips or seminars, while others develop luxury resorts on them.
The tendency isn’t limited uniquely to the Caribbean. Since becoming an appreciated tourist destination once again, Croatia, for example, has put up for sale dozens of islands along its 1,800 km coast. In spite of a certain rush, they still remain cheaper than elsewhere: the island of Smokvica, off the coast near Primosten was recently sold for (only) 1.6 million Euros.
The city of Dubai is also investing in this booming market via more imaginative projects.
Located a few kilometers from the coast, the grouping of islands called “The World” is made up of more than 250 small artificial islands that reproduce the world map (only visible from the sky). The company in charge, Nakheel, concentrates on erecting islets of sand in the shallow waters of the Gulf. It is then up to the buyers to build their homes, which must nevertheless conform to a number of very strict building criteria, notably in terms of height (towers and garishly shaped buildings are forbidden). The average price of these small islets (only a few hectares) intended for a very select clientele is 25 million dollars. Another of the Emirate’s noteworthy projects is “The Palm”, an enormous palmshaped island, the 2,000 villas and apartments of which were sold even before construction work had ended.
