1.Decide what the asset is for
Income, capital growth and personal use pull in different directions, and a property that serves all three usually serves none of them well. A Suva apartment leased to a professional tenant is an income asset. A Denarau villa you also want to use in July is a lifestyle asset with income attached, and you should price it that way. Write down which one you are buying before you start inspecting.
2.Run the numbers on real holding costs
Gross yield is a marketing number. Work from net: rates, insurance, maintenance, management, levies and vacancy. Insurance deserves particular attention in Fiji, because cyclone and flood cover is a significant line item and cover terms can change after a bad season. Salt air and heavy rain also mean maintenance runs higher than the equivalent property in a temperate market — budget for it annually rather than being surprised by it every third year.
- Municipal rates and any ground rent
- Insurance, including cyclone and flood cover
- Repairs and painting on a shorter cycle than you expect
- Body corporate or estate levies
- Letting or management fees, plus realistic vacancy
3.Residential letting versus holiday letting
A residential tenancy is lower revenue and much lower effort: one tenant, one bond, predictable months. Holiday letting can earn considerably more per night in Nadi, Denarau and Pacific Harbour, but it is a small business — seasonal occupancy, furnishing and replacement, cleaning and guest management, higher management fees, and licensing or approval obligations that vary by location and by estate. Compare them on net return after all of that, not on headline nightly rates.
4.Commercial plays by different rules
Commercial property is bought on the lease as much as on the building: who the tenant is, how long the term runs, what the review mechanism is, and which outgoings the tenant carries. The upside is longer terms and a tenant who maintains the premises. The downside is that vacancy is measured in months rather than weeks, re-letting can require capital for a fit-out, and the buyer pool when you exit is far smaller than for a house.
5.Tax and ownership structure
How you hold a property affects what you pay and what you can claim, and Fiji applies tax on some property income and disposals. Rates, thresholds and exemptions change, and they differ for residents and non-residents, so treat any figure you read on the internet — including the absence of one here — as a prompt to ask rather than an answer. Speak to a Fiji accountant and check the current position with the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service before you structure a purchase.
6.The risks you cannot diversify away
Fiji is a small market, and that shapes the risk. Cyclone exposure is real and insurance availability moves with it. Resale can be slow, because the pool of buyers for a specific asset at a specific price is thin. Tourism-linked property tracks arrivals, so a bad season for the industry is a bad season for your occupancy. And if you earn in Fiji dollars and spend elsewhere, the exchange rate is part of your return whether you planned for it or not. None of these is a reason to stay out — they are reasons to hold a cash buffer and a longer time horizon than you would offshore.