Why SRD property prices mislead: exchange rate, inflation and the real value of land and housing

A house that cost SRD 1.2 million in 2021 and SRD 4.8 million today has not become four times as expensive. In dollars the increase was over 120 per cent; corrected for Surinamese inflation, over 50 per cent. Using CBvS, ABS and IMF series, this report shows how the exchange rate and inflation distort Surinamese property prices, why the market calculates in euros, what that means for banks and investors, and how a valuation deals with it under the International Valuation Standards: ten working rules.

Executive Summary

Paramaribo, September 2026 · version 1.00

Viewed in SRD, the Surinamese property market has exploded since 2020. Viewed in US dollars or euros, the same market has become steadily but not spectacularly more expensive. After correction for inflation, the real increase turns out to be smaller than most owners think. All three pictures are arithmetically correct; the yardstick chosen determines the conclusion.

This report places the yardsticks side by side using the official series of the Central Bank of Suriname (CBvS), the General Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It describes why the Surinamese market has come to calculate in euros and what the law says about it. It then sets out how the exchange rate feeds through into rents and values, what that means for banks and investors, and which working rules a valuation under the International Valuation Standards (IVS) must follow in this market. The reference date is 27 September 2026.

At a glance

Key findings

1. The dollar costs almost three times as much in SRD as at the devaluation of September 2020. The official rate of the Central Bank of Suriname (CBvS) went from SRD 14.02 per dollar (22 September 2020) to a monthly average of SRD 38.8 in December 2025 and approximately SRD 37.4 at the end of August 2026. Measured from the old fixed rate of 7.52, which by then was no longer a market rate, the SRD lost four fifths of its value. Against the euro the rate has stood at around SRD 43 to 45 since the end of 2025.
2. Consumer prices have more than sextupled since the end of 2019, as have construction costs, while the dollar rate has more than quintupled. The three series move in the same direction, but not one for one: domestic prices rose over a quarter more than the exchange rate. That is decisive for the conversion of older transactions: an SRD amount from 2021 represents more dollars in 2026 than the exchange rate alone suggests.
3. A nominal price increase in SRD therefore says little about value development. A house that went from SRD 1.2 million (December 2021) to SRD 4.8 million (July 2026) rose 300 per cent in nominal terms, 121 per cent in dollars, approximately 90 per cent in real dollar terms and 52 per cent in real SRD terms. Which of the four measures counts depends on the currency in which the party measures its purchasing power.
4. The market quotes in euros, and the law has not prohibited this since April 2021. The prohibition on quoting prices in foreign currency (S.B. 2020 no. 73) was repealed by the Act of 8 April 2021 (S.B. 2021 no. 53). Approximately 80 per cent of deposits and over half of loans are denominated in foreign currency (CBvS, 2023).
5. Two of the three SRD mortgage regimes are negative in real terms, but their weight in the market is small. Against inflation of 8.0 per cent (August 2026), the 7 per cent facility yields a real interest rate of approximately minus 1 per cent and the National Housing Construction Fund approximately minus 3 to minus 4.5 per cent; the regular SRD mortgage is positive in real terms. The subsidised schemes are capped at SRD 1.6 to 2 million, around the cheapest houses in this report, and therefore mainly affect plots, new construction and the bottom segment.
6. In Suriname the exchange rate is first and foremost a fiscal and monetary variable. According to the IMF, the depreciation of 2025 followed an overly loose fiscal policy and an insufficiently restrictive monetary policy, with public debt at 106 per cent of GDP and reserves of USD 1.3 billion (chapter 1).
7. For banks, the risks sit in two places that this report keeps apart. A foreign-currency loan to a borrower with SRD income is a credit risk under depreciation; a fixed 7 per cent loan in SRD is an interest-rate and refinancing risk with a low nominal margin. A collateral value in SRD only becomes a risk measure once the exchange-rate sensitivity of the coverage ratio is stated alongside it (chapter 8).
8. For a valuation under the International Valuation Standards (IVS), the choice of currency is a methodological decision. The currency of the valuation follows from the engagement and from the market; cash flow and required return are stated in the same currency; asking prices serve at most as an upper bound; exchange-rate sensitivity and special assumptions belong in every report. Chapter 7 develops this into ten working rules.

Market Context & Quantitative Data

1. Six years in figures

Until September 2020 the Surinamese currency had a fixed official rate of SRD 7.52 per dollar, with a parallel market far above it. On 22 September 2020 the CBvS devalued the official rate to SRD 14.02 (buying), presented by the bank as a unification; in June 2021 the official and parallel rates converged. The exchange rate has since been formally floating, but not free. In the first eight months of 2024 the SRD appreciated by 21 per cent; in October and November of that year it depreciated by over 15 per cent (IMF, Country Report 25/97). In 2025 the CBvS intervened to limit the depreciation, and the IMF classifies the Surinamese exchange-rate system as a "multiple currency practice" that it does not approve; its advice is to let the currency float (IMF, Country Report 26/37). For property transactions, the relevant rate in practice is usually the banknote or cambio rate, which lies above the bank-transfer fixing: in June 2025 cambios quoted the euro above SRD 45 against an official rate of 44.23 (Figure 1 and Table 1).

Table 1. Exchange rate, inflation and construction costs 2019–2026. Sources: CBvS (daily publications and monthly exchange-rate summaries; old fixed rate according to Suriname Herald, 28 August 2020), IMF Country Reports 25/97 and 26/37 (year-end exchange rates 2021–2024), ABS (Basis Indicatoren 2026-I; consumer price index (CPI) December on December; construction price index 2015 = 100, annual figure for 2025 from the release of 29 January 2026; first quarter 2026 via press report based on ABS figures). The IMF figure for inflation at end-2025 (13.0 per cent) differs from the provisional ABS figure (11.4 per cent); this report follows the ABS. The year-end 2024 exchange rate differs between IMF reports 25/97 (36.7) and 26/37 (35.2); this report follows the most recent report. n/a = not available in the series consulted.

Over the six years from the end of 2019, the dollar rate has more than quintupled (factor 5.2 to the December 2025 average), consumer prices have sextupled (factor 6.5) and construction costs have likewise sextupled (factor 6.1). The three series move in the same direction, but not one for one and not simultaneously (Figure 2). Prices rose cumulatively over a quarter more than the exchange rate, and in individual years they diverge by tens of percentage points. In 2023 the exchange rate rose 16 per cent against inflation of 32.6 per cent. In 2024 the exchange rate fell 4 per cent, while inflation stood at 10.1 per cent and construction costs fell 8.3 per cent. Part of the inflation therefore has domestic causes; the exchange rate is the most important, but not the only, explanation. In our analysis the pass-through is high for imported building materials and lower for services, wages and land. That domestic prices rose faster than the exchange rate is decisive for the conversion of older transactions (chapter 5).

The exchange rate is, moreover, first and foremost a fiscal variable. According to the IMF, the depreciation of 2025 followed "an overly loose fiscal policy and an insufficiently restrictive monetary policy", with public debt at 106 per cent of GDP and reserves of USD 1.3 billion (3.5 months of imports) at end-2025. The current-account deficit of 34 per cent of GDP in 2025 and 48 per cent in 2026 is the mirror image of the oil investments and is financed by direct investment. It says little about the sustainability of the exchange rate; what it does indicate, on our reading of the IMF projections, is that the spending impulse from oil will only come after first oil in 2028.

2. Dollarisation: what the law says and why the market calculates in euros

The Wet Controle Valutaverkeer en Transactiekantoren (Foreign Exchange Transactions and Exchange Offices Control Act, S.B. 2020 no. 73) of March 2020 prohibited quoting prices in any currency other than the Surinamese dollar (art. 3 lid 5) and advertisements with prices in foreign currency (art. 3 lid 6). The agreements in foreign currency referred to in the Act were void by operation of law (art. 3 lid 3). The Act was suspended in interim injunction proceedings; on 30 March 2021 the National Assembly adopted, by 42 votes to 0, the amendment by which it was repealed under the Act of 8 April 2021 (S.B. 2021 no. 53, art. II). The 2021 Act regulates the supervision of money transaction offices and contains no prohibition on quoting prices or on agreements in foreign currency. No current statutory prohibition on property prices in euros or dollars was found in this research. The Deviezenregeling 1947 (Foreign Exchange Regulation 1947) does still apply: capital transactions between residents and non-residents require in principle the consent of the Foreign Exchange Commission; for the current account this has been considerably relaxed since 1992. For a buyer or seller abroad, payment therefore runs through the civil-law notary, who applies for the foreign-exchange licence (Notariaat Magazine, 2018).

The market has adapted to the absence of a prohibition. Sellers predominantly offer houses and plots in euros, partly in dollars; the SRD price is a conversion at the daily rate. That it is the euro and not the dollar we attribute to the origin of a large share of the buyers and remittances: the Surinamese community in the Netherlands. This is an observation from our practice, not a measured share; the monitor PAM is preparing must quantify it. In any event that demand is independent of the SRD exchange rate and of Surinamese interest rates. The banking sector is dollarised to the same degree: approximately 80 per cent of deposits and over half of loans are denominated in foreign currency (CBvS, 2023). In 2025 private credit grew by over 40 per cent in nominal terms, two thirds of which consisted of foreign-currency loans (IMF, Country Report 26/37). The cash-reserve requirement for foreign currency stands at 50 per cent, that for SRD at 44 per cent.

The consequence for price formation is that the euro is the de facto unit of account for supply, while the SRD is the unit of account for the income of most buyers. The exchange rate forms the link between those two units of account: a movement in the exchange rate changes affordability for the SRD earner, while the euro value of the property remains the same.

3. Interest rates: two of the three SRD regimes are negative in real terms

The CBvS does not steer through a formal policy rate but through reserve money and open-market operations; the IMF describes the interest-rate channel as weak (Country Report 25/97). The short-term CBvS rate fell from approximately 34 per cent on open-market operations (April 2024; CBvS, inflation and interest rates) to approximately 4 per cent on one-week term deposits (April 2026); the lending facility stood at 14 per cent in April 2026 (CBvS, Economic Bulletin April 2026). The banks' lending rate in SRD averaged 14.5 per cent in the first half of 2025, the savings rate 6.5 per cent (Finabank, interim report 2025). Three separate regimes apply to housing finance (Table 2).

Table 2. Three housing finance regimes in SRD. Sources: Finabank (interim report 2025), Hakrinbank (mortgage conditions, 2024–2026), Key News (9 February 2025), gov.sr and GFC Nieuws (July 2026), ABS (inflation August 2026). Real interest rate ex post, calculated as (1 + nominal) / (1 + inflation) − 1. For a 30-year loan, expected inflation over the term is what counts; at the CBvS projection of 7.4 per cent for end-2026, the 7 per cent facility is around zero in real terms. No official series of USD or EUR mortgage rates is published.

A negative real interest rate means that the borrower repays less in purchasing power than was borrowed. The effect on prices in Suriname is limited. The subsidised facilities are capped at SRD 1.6 to 2 million (approximately EUR 37,000 to 46,000 at the August 2026 rate). That is roughly the level of the cheapest houses in chapter 4 (from EUR 42,500) and well below the rest of the supply; only plots and the bottom segment fall within it. The volumes disbursed (approximately SRD 200 million up to early 2025) are moreover small relative to the market. The pressure therefore lands mainly on plots, new construction and the bottom housing segment in the districts, on top of the flight from the SRD into foreign currency that the banking sector already shows. The broader monetary pressure came from two sources. The short-term CBvS rate fell from 34 to 4 per cent in two years while inflation climbed back above 10 per cent, described by the IMF as "insufficiently restrictive". In addition, private credit grew by over 40 per cent in 2025. Whether the SRD buyer can really pay more depends on real wage development; the ABS publishes no usable series on this.

4. What asking prices tell us, and what they do not

Suriname has no house price index and no public transaction statistics. The only public price signal is asking prices on sales platforms. A sample of the supply on 27 September 2026 (Rio Times, based on two major platforms) gives the picture in Table 3.

Table 3. Asking prices in Greater Paramaribo, 27 September 2026. Source: Rio Times (27 September 2026), based on two sales platforms. Indicative; not transaction prices; not weighted by location, floor area or form of title.

These figures are asking prices; transaction prices are not available. For Trinidad, Terra Caribbean reports a gap of 5 to 15 per cent between asking price and purchase price; for Suriname no measurement exists. The sample suffices to show that the market calculates in euros and that a plot in Greater Paramaribo is offered at between approximately EUR 45 and EUR 260 per m², depending on location; it does not suffice for a price index.

Analysis & Methodology

5. Four yardsticks, one house

Take a house in Wanica that was sold for SRD 1,200,000 in December 2021 and for SRD 4,800,000 in July 2026. The seller speaks of a quadrupling. Table 4 and Figure 4 show what actually happened.

Table 4. The same transaction on four yardsticks. Exchange rates: IMF (end-2021), CBvS (monthly summary July 2026, mid rate (bank transfer)). Surinamese price factor: ABS, December 2021 to July 2026 (cumulative 2022–2025 and monthly changes January to July 2026). US price factor indicative; the US CPI is not included in this research. Rounded; worked example, not an actual transaction.

That the real increase in SRD (52 per cent) comes out lower than in dollars (approximately 90 per cent) is because Surinamese prices rose faster than the exchange rate in this period: the exchange rate moved by a factor of 1.8, Surinamese prices by a factor of 2.6, US prices by approximately 1.2. Corrected for both price levels, the SRD appreciated in real terms by roughly a quarter between December 2021 and July 2026 (indicative, given the US price factor). For a valuer this means that "real" without stating the deflator is just as indeterminate as "nominal" without stating the currency. Nor is the real price a pure measure of scarcity: it contains quality differences and the effect of interest rates and expectations.

The four outcomes are each usable, but for different questions. For the tax authority and the civil-law notary, the nominal SRD value counts. For an investor who calculates in foreign currency, the second and third rows count. For the question whether housing in Wanica has become scarcer for a Surinamese earner, the fourth counts. If the first row is used to answer the fourth question, the market development is overstated by a factor of six.

6. How the exchange rate feeds through into rents and values

In a dollarised economy, a fall in the exchange rate feeds through into property along two channels. The first is the cost side: building materials are imported, the construction price index follows the exchange rate over time (chapter 1), and the replacement cost of every building rises in SRD with the exchange rate. The second is the rental side: landlords who wish to preserve their purchasing power index rents to the euro or the dollar. Research into the semi-dollarised rental market of Buenos Aires found a pass-through of the exchange rate into rents of over 30 per cent within a month (Revista INVI, 2020). No comparable estimates are available for Suriname; that the pass-through is higher here is an expectation based on the practice of euro-denominated leases; no measurement exists. PAM will only be able to estimate that pass-through once the rental monitor is running.

In the valuation model, the whole chain shifts as a result. The rent (numerator) is de facto denominated in euros. The required return (denominator) must be denominated in the same currency as the rent, regardless of the currency in which the investor itself calculates; the value that follows is in euros and is only converted afterwards. The buyer's financing is, depending on income, in SRD or in foreign currency: the only link that does not automatically sit in the currency of the market. A valuation that converts the rent to SRD on the valuation date, then holds that SRD rent flat and applies a nominal SRD required return to it, systematically undervalues: the denominator contains expected inflation and depreciation, the numerator does not. Conversely, a euro rent discounted at a nominal SRD discount rate comes out too low, because that rate contains an SRD inflation expectation that the euro rent does not have. An initial yield derived directly from transactions, by contrast, is currency-neutral, as long as rent and price have been converted on the same date and at the same rate. The error lies in mixing currencies or growth expectations between numerator and denominator; the choice of the SRD as such is not the problem.

Guyana is the precedent for the demand side. House prices in Georgetown rose from the oil discovery of 2015 to such an extent that the IMF warned as early as 2020 of the consequences for household debt and the banks (Chow, IMF Working Paper 20/20). In 2024 the press reported housing allowances for oil workers of more than USD 2,500 per month and rents for two-room apartments rising from GYD 120,000 to 160,000 to 170,000 per month (Stabroek News, 18 June 2024). In May 2026 the Surinamese president referred to that risk as a motive for the national housing plan. This report makes no statement on the exchange-rate effect of oil on the basis of Guyana; in any event, the adjustment there ran through rents and prices in the capital.

7. Ten working rules for valuation practice

IVS 101 (Scope of Work) requires that the currency of the valuation be agreed with the client in advance. The reporting standard (IVS 103 in the 2022 edition, IVS 106 in the 2025 edition) requires that the valuation date, sources, assumptions and special assumptions be stated in the report. In a market such as Suriname's, ten working rules follow from this, which PAM applies as its house standard; they are principles, not a procedural manual.

1. Currency of the valuation. Fix the currency in the engagement letter. The starting point is the currency in which the market for the property actually transacts, which for houses and plots in Greater Paramaribo is currently predominantly the euro. Values in other currencies are conversions, not separate valuations, and are labelled as such. For the conversion, use the mid rate (bank transfer) from the CBvS daily publication on the valuation date and quote the rate and source verbatim. If the rate at which parties in this market actually settle (banknotes, cambio) differs materially, in practice from approximately 2 per cent, the difference is reported and the use of the official rate instead of the settlement rate is recorded as a special assumption, with the conversion at the settlement rate shown alongside.
2. Comparable transactions. For each comparable, first establish the currency in which the parties agreed the price (sale agreement, agent's file), not merely the amount stated in the deed. Bring the price into the currency of the market at the CBvS mid rate on the transaction date. Only then apply a time adjustment for the market movement up to the valuation date, in that market currency, and explain what that adjustment rests on. If a comparable was settled at the cambio rate, the same rule applies as under working rule 1. Transactions from before the exchange-rate convergence of June 2021 are used only where no more recent evidence exists, and then at the cambio rate published at the time, with the source cited.
3. Construction costs. Build up the reinstatement cost primarily from current unit prices (quantities multiplied by local prices on the valuation date). Use the ABS construction price index only to bring older estimates to the valuation date, stating the index levels used (2015 = 100). Do not use the consumer price index or the exchange rate for this: in individual years they diverge by tens of percentage points (2024: construction costs −8.3 per cent against inflation of 10.1 per cent). Apply physical and economic depreciation separately.
4. Cash flow and required return in the same currency and on the same basis. Nominal with nominal, real with real. For a euro rental stream, a euro discount rate, built up from the risk-free rate, a country-risk premium and property and liquidity premiums, unless the yield has been derived directly from Surinamese comparable transactions: in that case the country risk is already embedded and is not added again. For an SRD rental stream, a nominal SRD discount rate with an explicitly stated inflation expectation over the holding period (source: IMF or CBvS projection, not the latest monthly inflation figure) and the same expectation in the rent indexation of the cash flows. State separately: capitalisation rate or discount rate, its build-up and the currency.
5. Actual currency of the rent. A rent that is contractually denominated in SRD but is in fact linked to the euro or the dollar is treated as a cash flow in that currency.
6. Nominal and real. Separate nominal from real growth in every statement about value development and name the deflator (consumer price index, construction price index or exchange rate), because it determines the outcome (chapter 5).
7. Hierarchy of evidence. (1) Completed transactions with known currency and date; (2) signed sale agreements; (3) bids and aborted negotiations from the firm's own files; (4) asking prices. Asking prices serve only as an upper bound or as a check and are never included uncorrected as a comparable transaction. A discount to the asking price is substantiated per file with Surinamese observations; regional percentages are only a check. The level of evidence is stated for each comparable.
8. Exchange-rate sensitivity. Every report contains the value in the reporting currency at the valuation-date rate and at a rate 10 per cent stronger and 10 per cent weaker. A value converted to SRD applies exclusively at the rate on the valuation date; in the event of a material exchange-rate movement thereafter we recommend reconfirmation of the conversion, and a material movement between the valuation date and the report date is reported as a subsequent event.
9. Mortgage financing. In valuations for lending purposes, the report states the currency of the loan, the currency of the borrower's income and the currency in which the market trades the collateral. Where these diverge, the sensitivity of the loan-to-value to an exchange-rate movement of 10 and 25 per cent is reported alongside the market value. A forced-sale value (in IVS terms a liquidation value under a forced sale) is expressed in the currency in which settlement actually takes place on enforcement, stating the assumed marketing period and discount.
10. Special assumptions. Every assumption that departs from the actual situation on the valuation date is stated as a special assumption in the engagement letter and in the report, where possible with the value without that assumption shown alongside. Examples: a rate other than the CBvS fixing, an assumed freehold title where grondhuur (leasehold of state land) applies, an assumed land conversion or subdivision approval, a rent indexation that is not contractually fixed. Significant assumptions that are not special assumptions, such as the inflation expectation or the marketing period, are stated separately.

8. Two mismatches: what the bank needs to know

The currency structure of the Surinamese market places two different risks with banks, which in practice are confused with each other.

Mismatch 1: foreign-currency loan, SRD income. Over half of bank credit is denominated in foreign currency and two thirds of credit growth in 2025 was in foreign currency, partly to households and businesses without foreign-currency income. Under depreciation their debt service in SRD rises, while their income stays the same. That is a credit risk for the bank, and it is the risk the IMF points to when it names the "FX exposure of the banks" as a source of concern (Country Report 26/37). The collateral, priced in euros, holds its value in that scenario; the borrower loses the capacity to pay.

Mismatch 2: SRD loan at a fixed 7 per cent, 30 years. A bank that lends in SRD out of SRD funds under the cash-reserve facility bears no currency risk. It bears interest-rate and refinancing risk: a fixed 7 per cent for thirty years against an average lending rate of 14.5 per cent leaves a low nominal margin, whose real value depends on the cost of the released cash reserve from which the facility is financed; moreover, the loan can be repaid early as soon as market rates fall. The collateral, priced in euros, rises in SRD under depreciation and improves the coverage ratio; the risk sits in the margin. Table 5 makes both mismatches visible in a single worked example.

Table 5. Loan-to-value of a house with an asking price of EUR 50,000, financed with SRD 1.6 million under the 7 per cent facility. Worked example at the latest available daily rate (28 August 2026, mid rate (bank transfer)), with an unchanged euro-dollar rate. Scenario B follows the 14 per cent from the IMF downside scenario in chapter 9; the 10 per cent appreciation in scenario C is a calculation assumption by PAM, because chapter 9 does not quantify that scenario. The euro price is held constant; if it falls in scenario B, as chapter 9 expects, the improvement in the coverage ratio is smaller. With a loan in euros, the loan-to-value remains 74 per cent in all scenarios, but the borrower's SRD payments rise with the exchange rate.

Work it through yourself. Choose an exchange-rate movement and the currency of the loan below; the stress test shows the collateral value, the loan-to-value and the debt service, and the loan-to-value at a 10 and 25 per cent exchange-rate movement.

The worked example shows the essence: the same exchange-rate movement improves the coverage ratio of the SRD loan and worsens the capacity to pay of the foreign-currency borrower. An acceptance policy that looks only at the loan-to-value in SRD sees the first and misses the second. Working rule 9 in chapter 7 therefore stipulates that a valuation for lending purposes states the three currencies (loan, income, market) and the sensitivity of the coverage ratio.

9. Three exchange-rate scenarios, 2027–2029

The exchange rate is the greatest uncertainty for every property decision in Suriname. Table 6 places side by side three scenarios that follow from the sources consulted, with the effect on each part of the market. The scenarios are indicative; their magnitude and timing cannot be predicted.

Table 6. Three exchange-rate scenarios and their effects. Sources: IMF Country Report 26/37 (baseline and downside scenario), CBvS Economic Bulletin April 2026 (inflation projection), gov.sr (Savings and Stabilisation Fund), IMF Working Paper 20/20 and Stabroek News (Guyana). Exchange rates indicative, derived from the percentage deviations cited; not a forecast.

The practical lesson is that the currency of income determines in which scenario a party wins or loses. A party with SRD income buying in euros is vulnerable in scenario B and is helped in scenario C. A party with foreign-currency income sees its purchasing power in the market increase in scenario B; its costs in SRD (stamp duty, civil-law notary, maintenance, taxes) then fall in euro terms and rise in scenario C. For the investor from the diaspora there is the additional question whether rent and sale proceeds can be repatriated in euros; that runs through the Deviezenregeling (Foreign Exchange Regulation) and must be answered before the purchase. A bank that finances in SRD at a fixed 7 per cent sees its margin eroded in real terms in scenario B and has a limited real advantage in scenario C.

10. Methodology and limitations

This report rests first and foremost on official series: the daily publications and monthly summaries of the CBvS, the consumer price index and the construction price index of the ABS, the Economic Bulletin of the CBvS and the year-end levels from IMF Country Reports 25/97 (April 2025) and 26/37 (February 2026). The legislative texts come from dna.sr and sris.sr. In addition, bank publications, press reporting and one secondary source for asking prices have been used, in each case identified as such. Passages that constitute PAM's own analysis or practical observation (the origin of euro demand, the distribution of pass-through across goods and services, the exchange-rate assumptions in chapter 9) are marked as such in the text. The monthly averages for 2026 have been calculated over the days available in the CBvS summaries.

Limitations

An official CBvS monthly average for August and September 2026 was not available on the reference date; the latest daily rate used is that of 28 August 2026. The August inflation figure (8.0 per cent, published 22 September 2026) has been incorporated in Tables 1 and 2; the Surinamese price factor in Table 4 runs to July, the month of the example transaction. The US price factor in Table 4 and the real appreciation of the SRD derived from it are indicative; the US consumer price index is not included in this research. Banks publish no series of mortgage rates in foreign currency and no series of regular SRD mortgage rates; Table 2 uses the average lending rate. The foreign-exchange regime is described in outline and has not been legally tested. Suriname has no house price index, so the real price development in chapter 5 is a worked example.

Strategic Scenarios

Three exchange-rate scenarios, 2027–2029

The three exchange-rate scenarios (A. Stabilisation, B. Depreciation, C. Oil inflows) and their effects on prices in SRD, prices in euros and dollars and on financing are set out in chapter 9 of this report (Analysis & Methodology tab, Table 6), directly after the ten working rules and the worked example for banks in chapter 8. The scenarios are indicative and derived from IMF Country Report 26/37 and the Economic Bulletin of the CBvS; their magnitude and timing cannot be predicted.

Conclusion

11. Conclusion

Since 2020, Surinamese property prices in SRD have been above all a reflection of the exchange rate and inflation, and only secondarily of scarcity. Measured in SRD, the market development in this report's worked example is overstated by a factor of six. Measured in euros or dollars, one sees the market as the supply side sees it, but not as most buyers pay for it. Measured in real terms, the market in Greater Paramaribo has become scarcer, but more slowly than the advertisements suggest, and the outcome depends on the deflator, because domestic prices have risen faster than the exchange rate since 2021.

For banks this means that the currency risk lies with the borrower holding a foreign-currency loan and the interest-rate risk with the fixed-rate SRD loan, and that a collateral value only becomes a risk measure once the exchange-rate sensitivity of the coverage ratio is stated alongside it. For investors it means that the return is calculated in the currency of the rental stream, with a required return in that same currency, and that repatriation is arranged before the purchase. For valuers, the ten working rules in chapter 7 are the house standard for producing a report that stands up internationally.

The gap this report exposes is the absence of a price series. Without a transaction or rental index, every statement about the Surinamese property market remains a worked example. PAM Research & Analytics is developing a periodic property monitor that brings exchange rate, rents, construction costs and stock together in one framework; the next report in this series describes that framework.

About PAM Research & Analytics

PAM Research & Analytics carries out IVS-compliant valuations and market analyses for banks, investors and public authorities. For a valuation, a second opinion or a conversation about the choice of currency in an ongoing valuation: advisory@pamnv.com. Background on land, titles and surveying can be found in the knowledge base and the brochures at www.sc-reas.com.

References

Legislation and regulation

• Wet Controle Valutaverkeer en Transactiekantoren (Foreign Exchange Transactions and Exchange Offices Control Act), S.B. 2020 no. 73 (repealed). dna.sr
• Act of 8 April 2021 amending the Wet Toezicht Geldtransactiekantoren 2012 (Money Transaction Offices Supervision Act 2012), S.B. 2021 no. 53. sris.sr
• gov.sr (31 March 2021). Parlement stemt massaal voor wijziging valutawet. gov.sr
• Doing Business Dutch Caribbean. Foreign exchange law Suriname (Deviezenregeling 1947; suspension of S.B. 2020 no. 73). doingbusinessdutchcaribbean.com
• IVSC (2024). International Valuation Standards, 2025 edition, effective 31 January 2025.

Statistics and central bank

• Centrale Bank van Suriname. Gemiddelde wisselkoersen valutamarkt, daily publications and monthly summaries 2026 (January, March, June, July; daily rate 28 August 2026). cbvs.sr
• Suriname Herald (28 August 2020). Banken mogen hogere valutakoers voor Amerikaanse dollar hanteren. srherald.com
• Centrale Bank van Suriname. Inflatie en rentes. cbvs.sr
• Centrale Bank van Suriname. Macro-economie: kasreserve en dollarisering. cbvs.sr
• Centrale Bank van Suriname (April 2026). Economisch Bulletin april 2026. cbvs.sr
• Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek (23 July 2024). Consumentenprijsindexcijfers juni 2024 (with annual inflation 2019–2023). statistics-suriname.org
• Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek (22 December 2025). Consumentenprijsindexcijfers november 2025 (with annual inflation 2024). statistics-suriname.org
• Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek (21 August 2026). CPI-sheet juli 2026. statistics-suriname.org
• Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek (22 September 2026). CPI-sheet augustus 2026. statistics-suriname.org
• Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek (January 2026). Basis Indicatoren 2026-I. statistics-suriname.org
• Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek (29 January 2026). Bouwprijsindex, vierde kwartaal 2024 tot vierde kwartaal 2025. statistics-suriname.org
• Suriname Times (2026). Bouwkosten blijven stijgen (ABS figures, first quarter 2026). surinametimes.com
• Finabank N.V. (2025). Interim Financial Report 2025. finabanknv.com
• Hakrinbank N.V. 7% hypothecaire lening verruimd (2024, updated 2026). hakrinbank.com
• Hakrinbank N.V. (2024). Hypothecaire lening. hakrinbank.com
• KNB (2018). Notariaat over de grens: Suriname. Notariaat Magazine, November 2018. knb.nl

International institutions and literature

• IMF (April 2025). Suriname: Ninth Review under the Extended Arrangement, Country Report 25/97. imf.org
• IMF (February 2026). Suriname: 2025 Article IV Consultation, Country Report 26/37. imf.org
• Chow, J.T. (2020). Guyana: Housing Market and Implications for Macroprudential Policies, IMF Working Paper 20/20. imf.org
• Revista INVI, 35(99) (2020). Exchange rate pass-through to house rental prices: evidence from the Buenos Aires semi-dollarized market. redalyc.org

Press and market

• CARICOM Business (28 September 2020). Suriname unifies exchange rate. today.caricom.org
• Key News (9 February 2025). Succesvolle aanpassing 7%-financieringsfaciliteit stimuleert woningbouw en eigen woningbezit. keynews.sr
• Suriname Herald (16 June 2025). Euro boven SRD 45 bij cambio's, dollar stijgt ook. srherald.com
• Suriname Herald (18 May 2026). Simons waarschuwt voor stijgende huizenprijzen door olie-industrie. srherald.com
• gov.sr (7 July 2026). Officiële uitvoering Nationaal Huisvestingsprogramma in de startblokken. gov.sr
• gov.sr (31 December 2024). Wet Spaar- en Stabilisatiefonds aangenomen. gov.sr
• GFC Nieuws (9 July 2026). Regering stort SRD 250 miljoen in Nationaal Woningbouwfonds. gfcnieuws.com
• Stabroek News (18 June 2024). City rents high and going higher. stabroeknews.com
• Terra Caribbean (19 May 2026). Trinidad & Tobago Residential Property Snapshot Q1 2026. terracaribbean.com
• Rio Times (27 September 2026). Buying property in Suriname as a foreigner, 2026. riotimesonline.com

Disclaimer

This report was prepared by PAM Research & Analytics (PAM N.V.) on the basis of public statistics, publications of the CBvS, the ABS and the IMF, legislative texts and press reporting. The sources were consulted up to and including 27 September 2026. It contains no investment advice, no valuation of a specific property and no forecast of the exchange rate. The scenarios in chapter 9 are indicative and derived from the sources cited. The worked examples in chapters 5 and 8 do not concern actual transactions. Asking prices are indicative and are not transaction prices. No rights may be derived from the contents. PAM N.V. and SC-REAS N.V. are affiliated companies. Bases of value in PAM publications follow the International Valuation Standards (IVS), 2025 edition.

Jeffrey Pengel