Flying Start To 2021 For Grenada
It might be. Compared to 2020, approval rates for the first quarter are up by 30%.
If this trajectory continues, Grenada will be breaking citizenship-by-investment program (CIP) records for the fifth year in a row, making it one of the most lucrative CIP programs in the world.
Approvals and Income by Year
Grenada’s CIP has been growing as far back as 2016. Looking at real estate investments only, 2016 brought in $24.98 million (Eastern Caribbean dollars). 2017 followed that with $40.5 million, then $49.5 million in 2018.
Thus far, 2020 is at $151 million in real estate investments. This is more six times the amount in 2016.
As for approvals, the first quarter of 2021 has seen 96 approved applications. This is the highest ever reached for Grenada in a first quarter.
What About Rejection Rates?
Grenada’s program received 118 applications total in first quarter 2021. Of those, 96 were approved and six were rejected. This puts rejection rates for 2021 so far at 5.1%.
It’s a great improvement from 2020 and 2019. Rejections for 2020 were at 8.9% and 2019 at 11.8%.
Those two years saw abnormally high rejection rates, even though passport issuances were high.
Going back to 2021, the 96 approved applications led to 310 new citizenship issuances, with each approval representing an average family size of 3.2.
CIP’s Income for 2021
As reported by the Finance Ministry, 2021’s program revenue totals at $70.2 million so far. If projecting through the end of 2021, this would mean a total of $280 million, exceeding the $253 million record of 2020.
Which Investment Options are Applicants Selecting?
While Grenada’s CIP is seeing an overall rise, most of the investments are flowing into the real estate option. As of 2021, 70.83% of funds were pooled into real estate. This is a sharp rise from 2020, where real estate represented only 58.4%.
This is the highest observed rate since the program’s start in 2015.
Also, in 2021’s first quarter, $45.9 million pooled into real estate, another $15.12 million went into donations, and budgetary fees represented $9.2 million.
What About Q2 Data?
Grenada did suffer from an unstable real estate market in its springtime. Its effects are yet to be seen, and so is the data.
It’s estimated that Q2 data should be available later in 2021.
Political tensions may further compound the program’s problems. Late May did see the resignation of Warren Newfield, a significant developer of projects eligible for Grenada’s CIP market.
The reasons he cited were tensions with the government.
The problems do not stop there. Newfield did file for arbitration against the Grenadian authorities, citing that they had ruined a successful project. This may put a wrench in Grenada’s overall CIP program revenues.
But the effects of what has happened are yet to be seen.