Key Highlight
- St. Croix largest of three main US Virgin Islands
- Filled with white-sand beaches and diving sites
St. Croix Considered One of Three of “America’s Caribbean Paradises”
It’s been nearly a year into the COVID pandemic and, by now, you and/or your clients may be itching to get “away.” If white-sand beaches and glorious diving sites are on your menu, consider the US Virgin Islands.
St. Croix is the largest of the three main US Virgin Islands and also the most affordable of the three. The median sale price of a house on St. Croix is $412,500, according to MLS data. That price buys a small three-bedroom home on approximately one-half acre of land. The average price of a home, reported by the US Virgin Islands Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in November 2020, was approximately $633,000.
Market Relatively Stable Throughout Pandemic
The pandemic wiped out St. Croix’s tourism industry but home sales have been steady throughout. According to Ava Gail Bourdon, broker/owner of RE/MAX St. Croix. “We’ve had a lot of sales sight unseen, especially in the last quarter. We’re doing a lot more video showings, spending more time on the [hone with clients. Technology has worked really well with this respect, and people are buying this way.”
Amy Lande-de-Wilde, an agent with Coldwell Banker St. Croix Realty, said that St. Croix’s luxury market (priced $1M and up) increased slightly in 2020 with most of the action happening in the last quarter of the year.
Majority of Non-Resident Buyers Are Americans
Unsurprisingly, most nonresidents buyers are Americans. Lande-de Wilde said, “The money is the same, the language, Medicare. It’s just easy.” Cash buyers can usually close within a month while financing transactions are taking 60 to 90 days due to COVID-related delays.
The Draw? White Sand Beaches
The draw to St. Croix, like St. Thomas and St. John, is the white-sand beaches. The bonus is the diving sites including the Buck Island Reef National Monument, one of only three underwater national monuments in the US. On an island landmass of just 84 square miles and 27 miles long, St. Croix’s largest town is Christiansted. Obviously, nothing is far away, including the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport that welcomes you to one of the three “America’s Caribbean Paradises.”
Thanks to The New York Times.
