A commercial plaza, a medical facility, and resort-area properties are among dozens of mortgaged properties scheduled to be auctioned in August.
It comes amid a three-quarter rise in past due loans across the financial sector, according to latest Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) data.
Conducted by D.C. Tavares & Finson Realty Limited, the August 26 sale spans eight parishes. This list of 46 properties is not exhaustive but reflects the latest batch on the market.
“This is the list we received,” according to D.C. Tavares & Finson administrator Meyown Palmer when contacted by Sunday Business. “And this is the list we have posted.”
Separately, Scott’s Realty is also conducting an online auction of a one-bedroom apartment at the 20 South development in Kingston 11, with bidding opening at $52 million.
The D.C. Tavares & Finson, auction is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Altamont Court Hotel in New Kingston. The auctioneer noted that properties may be removed from the listing prior to the sale upon payment.
Among the more notable offerings is a commercial complex on Cargill Avenue, Kingston 10, occupying 2,176 square metres of land. Public business records indicate that several enterprises have operated from the address over the years, including legal, travel, immigration, educational and technology-related businesses, while online property listings show office suites at the location being marketed for rent.
Properties in tourism-oriented locations are also featured in the catalogue. These include a unit at Mystic Ridge in Ocho Rios, an apartment at Carib Ocho Rios Apartments and a lot within the Whitehouse Beach Club development in Westmoreland. Whitehouse Beach Club has been marketed as a resort-style residential development on Jamaica’s south coast.
Other properties are located in established housing developments such as Coral Spring Village in Trelawny, Richmond Estate in St Ann and New Harbour Village in St Catherine. Coral Spring Village forms part of a large north-coast residential development.
Several large residential properties are on the list, including an 11-bedroom house in Mandeville, Manchester, and a number of five-and six-bedroom residences in Kingston, St Catherine and St James.
The auction notice does not disclose the identities of the mortgagors, the lenders exercising the powers of sale or the amounts outstanding on the loans. The catalogue is also subject to change before the auction date, according to the auctioneers. Successful bidders will be required to pay a 20 per cent deposit immediately by certified cheque.
The auctions come as loans past due for 30 days or more across the financial sector jumped 79 per cent to $73.6 billion up to April compared to March. That was driven by a 25-fold rise in unserviced construction loans to $12 billion, the largest jump in construction past-due loans for at least nine years, according to the latest BOJ data. The entity or group responsible for the increase has two more months to pay before the loans become non-performing. The rise isn’t necessarily concerning as overall non-performing loans remained stable at $37.6 billion in April compared to both the previous month and the previous year. Also, NPLs as a proportion of total loans are under 3.0 per cent, below the 10 per cent that concerns regulators at the BOJ. That, however, doesn’t speak to the reduced disposable income across sections of the economy due to a series of shocks since the pandemic, resulting in higher prices.
In June, National Commercial Bank placed roughly three dozen repossessed properties across 10 parishes on the market through a private-treaty process, with the portfolio carrying a combined assessed value of more than $2 billion.
carolyn.guniss@rjrgleaner.com
