Property purchase made easier

BUYING a home in Jamaica has typically meant chasing paperwork across banks, attorneys, and sales offices, with no clear view of where things actually stand. ALTRUHOMES, the residential arm of ARC Properties, is trying to close that gap.

At Wick Hall Estate, ALTRUHOMES’ 221-unit development on 36 acres in Spanish Town, St Catherine, buyers now move through a digital platform built by Hidden Leaf Group that folds property selection, financing, documentation, and signing into one online journey.

The timing matters. Jamaica’s housing deficit remains above 150,000 units, a number that hasn’t moved much even with more than 41,000 units currently at varying stages in the development pipeline. Standalone homes are especially scarce, since land economics keep pushing developers toward higher-density schemes instead. St Andrew, St Ann, and St Catherine — the parish in which Wick Hall Estate sits — accounted for most of the roughly $100 billion in property sales recorded across Jamaica last year, which tells you demand for well-located, well-built homes hasn’t slowed down.