🎯 STRisker: Bulletin - Cayman Islands
Government-commissioned report proposes a density ceiling and New Orleans-style ownership limits. Cabinet has yet to adopt them, but operators now sit at the centre of the housing debate.
Tabled 10-Year plan proposes capping Cayman STRs at 7% of housing stock
Photo by Ronny Rondon on Unsplash
Today is not just a policy moment. Today is a promise honoured. For the first time, the Cayman Islands has a dedicated national framework for public and affordable housing — one built around Caymanian families, Caymanian dignity, and Caymanian futures.
- Hon. Johany “Jay” Ebanks, MP, Minister for Planning, Lands, Agriculture, Housing & Infrastructure, the Policy and Strategic Plan
The Cayman Islands' first national housing framework has proposed capping short-term rentals at 7% of the islands' housing stock, the first time a government-commissioned document has put forward a direct density ceiling on the sector.
The proposal sits inside the Public and Affordable Housing Policy and 10-Year Strategic Plan tabled in Parliament on 29 April by the Ministry of Planning, Lands, Agriculture, Housing & Infrastructure and authored by consultancy Public Works LLC. In written answers to the Cayman Compass, the Department of Tourism confirmed the 7% threshold remains a policy suggestion and has not been adopted yet by Cabinet.
Alongside the cap, the plan points toward a framework resembling the one adopted in New Orleans that bans corporate entities from owning short-term rentals and allows ordinary homeowners to hold a single permit. Consultants frame the recommendation against a sector that has tripled from just over 300 units in 2019 to upwards of 1,000 by June 2024, with short-term rentals now accounting for roughly half of all visitor accommodation across the three islands.
Separate FOI data obtained shows the licensed pool grew 22% in two years from 1,015 properties at the end of 2022 to 1,240 by the end of 2024. The report ties that growth directly to declining long-term rental availability and cites $740,000 average two-bedroom prices alongside a stated need for 5,000 new homes over 15 years.
Operators should note what the plan does not do. It sets no effective date and names no platforms for direct obligations of the kind imposed on Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com in jurisdictions like Barcelona or New York. It also offers no guidance on how a 7% ceiling would be split between existing licence-holders and new applicants. The report itself notes that the Economics and Statistics Office and the Lands and Survey Department would first need to establish a housing stock baseline before any cap could be calculated or enforced which is a dependency that pushes meaningful implementation well past 2026 even if Cabinet adopts the recommendation. Government has tabled the report without indicating which of its 98 recommendations it intends to act on.
The existing regime under the Tourism Law (1995) is unchanged: operators must hold a Tourism Accommodation Licence from the Hotel Licensing Board, charge a 13% Tourism Accommodation Tax and submit monthly occupancy reports regardless of bookings. The Department of Tourism told the Compass that unlicensed operators are addressed through direct engagement by its inspections unit, though it declined to estimate either how many properties operate without a license or how much Tourist Accommodation Tax goes uncollected.
With the 7% cap now in public circulation and the sector formally named as a contributor to housing scarcity, that enforcement gap is likely to attract sharper political attention through 2026.
⦾ Status: Tabled in Parliament April 2026; 98 recommendations across 10 areas, nothing enacted
⦾ Key finding: STR pool tripled from ~300 (2019) to 1,000+ (June 2024) per Public Works LLC; FOI data shows licensed properties up 22%, from 1,015 (end-2022) to 1,240 (end-2024)
⦾ Sector framing: STRs named as a driver of long-term rental scarcity; ~50% of visitor accommodation now short-term
⦾ Government posture: Decade-long delivery programme; STRs a contributing factor, not a standalone target for now
⦾ Not in the plan: No density caps, night limits, principal-residence rules or licensing freezes; no platform obligations on Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com
⦾ Watch items: Housing legislation, permitting reform and supply-side measures may evolve into STR-specific rules; enforcement tightening is the likeliest near-term move given gaps between licensed counts and observed listings
⦾ Unchanged: Tourism Accommodation Licence, 13% Tourism Accommodation Tax, monthly occupancy reports and annual inspections under the current Tourism Law
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