The sales of condominiums are set to hit an all time high this year with recent figures showing a doubling in overall price as well as sales when compared to five years ago.

Paul Matthews, professional services manager for JW Bermuda Realty, says in his most recent professional services valuation update that although there are still a few months left in 2004, current figures make it clear that the total amount of condo sales in dollar terms will have risen substantially year on year since 2000. He said: ?In the five years preceding (1996-1999), the average price remained fairly static between $310,000-$340,000 for the whole period. This rise in price can be directly attributed to an increase in demand as statistics show that sales of condominiums accounted for around 20 percent of all property sales, but in 2004 (up to October) this percentage has risen to almost 40 percent.?

The real estate agency tracks such market trends using its Realty Plus database of all property transactions in Bermuda. It shows that while the average price of a condo hovered around $400,000 five years ago, it now sits closer to $750,000.

Mr. Matthews said: ?These are interesting times in the Bermuda property market and everyone is aware of the broad increase in values that has been in occurrence. However, different market sectors experience differing rates of growth and our attention of late has been drawn to the extraordinary buoyancy of the condominium market:?

There are several reasons for the increase of sales within the condominium market.

These include a lack of single family cottages as well as a booming economy based on international business. The latter puts more money in Bermudians hands to buy property as investments while at the same time bringing in more expatriates who want to rent that property. Mr. Matthews says the increase in sales is also helped by the fact that older units are also coming back onto the market creating more supply while other new units are being purchased and flipped for a profit.

He said: ?When people recognise an area of the market is buoyant, they will buy a unit and flip it to make money on the sale and that happens a lot with developments so naturally that will be part of these figures,? he said. ?The other reason this has happened is because our economy has changed and with the increase of international business and the number of people looking for properties in the rental market this has become an attractive opportunity for Bermudians looking for property as an investment. They can purchase a unit in a condo which is an attractive form of living for someone coming form oversees and they can rent that to them.?

Barring any unforeseen changes in the local economy as a whole, buyers and sellers can expect the condo market to remain strong into 2005. Mr. Matthews says however that while there are plenty of developers building condominiums, demand is now outstripping supply when it comes to the smaller units that sell in the range of $500,000-$750,000. ?That is not an area where there are a lot of condos coming onto the market. A lot of developers are building condos priced higher than that,? he said.