According to Ricky Skerrit, the tourism minister of St Kitts, economic citizenship is driving the property market at the moment. “It’s kept it turning over in the past few months,” he says.

Marco Bonini, managing director of Prestigious Properties, a Caribbean specialist, says that property in St Kitts is 30%-40% cheaper across the board than in Barbados. “Even the villas at the Four Seasons in Nevis \ will be up to 50% cheaper than the Four Seasons in Barbados,” he claims.

Beachfront houses in SKN also cost 20% less than similar properties in the Turks and Caicos archipelago. But visitor numbers — and, therefore, the potential for holiday rental — are not as good, although government efforts to boost tourism with increased direct “airlift” from Europe and North America into Robert L Bradshaw airport are paying off.

Then there is Nevis, which, as one of the locals tells me, is for people who find St Kitts, which has no traffic lights on its 36 miles of road, and where leatherback turtles come ashore under the cover of darkness to lay their eggs, “too hectic”. The smaller of the two islands, it lies two miles to the southeast across a channel called the Narrows and has a long tradition as a quietly upmarket holiday destination: Lord Nelson used to visit the hot springs at the Bath Hotel, built in 1778.

Nevis may also soon become the first carbon-neutral island in the Caribbean, when its geothermal energy project starts producing electricity from high-pressure steam trapped within the dormant volcano that created the island. Although there is disquiet in some environmental circles about aspects of the process, the benefits of halving the cost of power and selling the surplus to St Kitts and other neighbours, never mind the dramatic reduction in its carbon footprint, will raise Nevis’s profile around the world.

Several property developments are being built and planned, often in conjunction with the island’s elegantly relaxed small hotels. Timothy Hoffman and his family have upgraded the 19-bedroom Montpelier Plantation, near the island’s botanical gardens, creating one of eight establishments in the Caribbean with Relais et Châteaux accreditation. Hoffman has acquired a five-acre plot next to the hotel, on which he plans to build four villas, overseeing design and construction for buyers. Owners will be able to use the hotel and its services, and can earn some income renting them back to the hotel. He is asking about £280,000 for each plot, and reckons the total cost per property will come in at less than £1.25m.

At the other end of the scale, Newfound is due to launch the first phase of its Pinney’s Beach scheme later this year. The 450-acre site stretches almost two miles back up the hill, to 1,000ft above sea level from a west-facing 1,640ft beachfront. It will be developed in seven phases, with a boutique hotel, a golf course and 250 villa plots. (There are no plans for condos at the moment.) Hamp-Adams quotes prices of £30-£38 per sq foot for the first phase of 29 one-acre beachfront villa plots, but suggests that “pre-launch prices” will be available to early birds.

Rawlins Plantation Inn; 00 1 869 662 7011, rawlinsplantation.com. Christophe Harbour; 00 1 800 881 7180, christopheharbour.com. Montpelier Plantation; 00 1 869 469 3462, montpeliernevis.com. Pinney’s Estate, through Savills; 01202 765011, pinneysestate.net

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