Is Isla Mujeres becoming overcrowded?

The answer to that question has to be yes, certain parts of the island are becoming overcrowded. Twenty years ago one could drive into the centre and park just about anywhere, now sometimes even the paid parking is full. One of the problems that is causing congestion in the centre is the growth in golf carts on the island. This has partially come about because developers have concentrated on building apartments rather than what the island is best suited for luxury Isla Mujeres villas. There are now rather too many apartments on the island. The thinking behind building apartments which is quite logical is that more Dollars can be produced per square metre by building up and dividing the building into apartments. This theory of reaping more Dollars per square metre by building apartments has however not proved to be the case, as there are now so many apartments on the island that developers are not seeing the values they hoped for and the same applies to rentals; there is so much in the way of apartments of average quality on the market that rental values have dropped. With cheaper rentals on the island, the result has been a change in the type of visitor, a more cost-conscious visitor. Nevertheless, all these extra visitors hire golf carts, and this is clogging up the roads. It has really become an Island of two parts, the north and the south. The southern part of the island is where you find the luxury Isla Mujeres homes. All along the Caribbean side of the island, there are some very large and beautiful homes and on the other side that overlooks the bay towards Cancun, there are many expensive Isla Mujeres homes. This is the side of the island where it is protected from any bad weather, the benefit is these properties can enjoy lush gardens, on the Caribbean side cactus is what survives best, due to the wind and salt coming off the sea. From an investment point of view, the southern end of the island is unbeatable; twenty years ago we built and sold three bedroom, three bathroom homes, complete with a pool for prices that you will now pay for a one-bedroom apartment. Yes of course with hindsight we should have just kept and rented the properties. However, we still have four high-quality Isla Mujeres homes for sale on Punta Sur which we are renting for the moment, but with the recent increase in sales activity, we expect to sell these properties soon. After that, there is nowhere for us to go all the quality land has now been sold.