A concerned Antigua and Barbuda resident has submitted a formal urgent appeal to the nation’s Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, warning that long-outdated eligibility caps for the landmark Construct Antigua and Barbuda Initiative (CAB-I) are actively undermining the program’s core mission of expanding accessible, affordable homeownership for local citizens and long-term residents. Launched under the Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority (ABIA) in August 2011, CAB-I was designed to deliver dual public benefits: stimulating domestic construction sector activity and easing the financial burden of homebuilding and renovations via a suite of targeted concessions, including tax exemptions, discounted building materials and professional services, and reduced mortgage and insurance premiums. However, 15 years of unprecedented construction cost inflation have rendered the program’s original financial thresholds functionally obsolete, the petitioner argues, creating unnecessary barriers for ordinary families seeking to secure stable housing. Data included in the appeal shows that in 2011, a basic finished concrete home cost an estimated EC$150 to EC$200 per square foot to build, with CAB-I applying an official construction valuation rate of roughly EC$200 per square foot. By 2026, comparable basic construction costs have skyrocketed to EC$350 to EC$400 or more per square foot, while the program’s official valuation rate has climbed 125% to EC$450 per square foot. Despite this dramatic surge, the maximum qualifying value for new CAB-I-assisted buildings has remained frozen at EC$500,000 since the program’s launch. The math illustrates the steep erosion of the program’s practical value: in 2011, a EC$500,000 budget could cover a 2,500 square foot home at 2011’s EC$200 per square foot rate, but that same sum today only supports roughly 1,111 square feet of construction, less than half the original floor area, before accounting for additional ancillary project costs. This static threshold forces aspiring homeowners into an unfair, no-win dilemma: families planning modest, non-luxury homes sized to fit their household’s needs often find their total project costs exceed the EC$500,000 cap, forcing them to downsize floor plans, compromise on critical design features, or abandon their homebuilding plans entirely. The petitioner emphasizes that this is not a case of applicants seeking to build high-value luxury properties at public expense; rather, standard, appropriately sized family homes that would have easily qualified for CAB-I support in 2011 are now routinely excluded, simply due to uncontrollable market price hikes for land, labor, and materials. The ripple effects of this misalignment extend far beyond individual construction projects, the appeal notes. As more families are locked out of CAB-I concessions, many are forced to remain in an increasingly overpriced rental market, pouring money into monthly rent payments that build no long-term household equity, rather than directing those funds toward mortgage payments that create intergenerational financial security via owned property. This dynamic widens the gap between households that can afford homeownership and those that cannot, worsening the Caribbean nation’s already pressing affordable housing socioeconomic challenge. To resolve the impasse, the petitioner puts forward a set of fiscally responsible, measured adjustments that avoid matching the full 125% rise in construction valuation rates, to protect public finances while restoring the program’s original purpose. The proposed reforms include a 20% increase to the new construction cap, lifting it from EC$500,000 to EC$600,000; formalizing and clarifying a EC$250,000 maximum qualifying value for home renovation projects; and establishing a mandatory, transparent biennial or triennial review mechanism tied to verified local construction cost data, to ensure thresholds keep pace with economic shifts without the multi-decade lags seen since CAB-I’s launch. The appeal concludes by urging the Prime Minister to initiate immediate cross-agency discussions with ABIA to implement these changes, noting that a timely, moderate adjustment will preserve CAB-I as a viable tool to support local families, boost the domestic construction sector, and advance the government’s longstanding policy goal of expanding accessible homeownership for all Antiguans and Barbudans.
LETTER: Urgent Review of CAB-I Construction Cost Thresholds to Protect Homeownership Affordability
