Jamaica’s real estate market has always been shaped by systems of measurement, control, and power — from hand-drawn plantation maps and colonial land registers to valuation rolls, planning approvals, and mortgage underwriting. Today, a new system is emerging. Artificial intelligence is beginning to influence how land is assessed, how risk is priced, and how development decisions are made, both globally and increasingly in markets like Jamaica.
Recent global research suggests this shift is moving faster than many investors are prepared for. A 2025 survey by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), involving more than 500 senior real estate decision-makers across 15 markets, found that while almost nine in ten investors are already piloting AI tools, more than 60 per cent lack the strategic, organisational, and technical foundations needed to deploy them meaningfully at scale.
For Jamaica, a country whose real estate history is deeply entwined with questions of access, ownership, and long-term security,…
