The Atoll Index · Q3 2026 edition
Index Methodology
How the Atoll Index is compiled, what it includes and excludes, and how to cite it. The short version: real, attributed figures from the public record — nothing modelled, scraped or interpolated.
What the index is
The Atoll Index is the documented price record of the private-island market: 205 attributed price points across 75 profiled islands, published as median asking prices by region and by tenure on the market page, with the full record set downloadable as CSV. It is stamped by quarter — this edition is Q3 2026 — and regenerated as profiles are added and the record deepens.
Sources and attribution
Every figure traces to an entry on an island's own profile, where it is attributed to its source — a public listing, published report or documented sale. We record asking prices and reported figures as they appeared; we do not estimate values, model prices, or fill gaps. Where the record is silent, the field is empty and the island simply doesn't enter that statistic.
What is included — and excluded
- Median asking tables (by region, by tenure) include islands offered for sale with a stated price. Islands “on application” are profiled but carry no number, so they are excluded.
- Rental rates (nightly and whole-island weekly buyouts) appear in the record set as
rental_raterows but are never mixed into sale statistics. - Documented reductions compare genuine sale figures on the same island over time — never a rental rate against a sale price, and never across currencies without a known reference rate.
- Past sales and withdrawn listings stay in the record as benchmarks, flagged by their
status.
Medians, not means
All headline statistics are medians. Trophy listings distort averages badly in an asset class this thin; medians resist that. Per-acre medians are computed only over islands whose size is documented.
Currency handling
Figures are recorded in their native currency and never altered. For cross-currency statistics we convert at fixed indicative reference rates (USD per 1 unit, as of 2026-07-10), published here so every number is reproducible. A currency without a reference rate is never converted and never defaults to parity.
| Currency | USD per unit |
|---|---|
| CAD | 0.73 |
| EUR | 1.08 |
| FJD | 0.44 |
| GBP | 1.27 |
| NZD | 0.60 |
| USD | 1.00 |
Editions and revisions
The index is stamped by quarter and the page carries its build date. Corrections to the underlying record (a mis-recorded figure, a better-documented date) are applied at source on the island profile and flow into the next regeneration; we do not silently rewrite published history — reductions and relistings are recorded as new entries, not overwrites.
Data dictionary
The CSV carries one row per documented record, 205 rows in this edition.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
island | Island name as profiled. |
slug | Stable identifier; also the profile URL segment. |
url | Canonical island profile carrying the attributed record. |
region | One of the seven regions we track. |
country | Jurisdiction of the island. |
tenure | Freehold, leasehold, government lease, usufruct — or “unstated” where the public listing did not state it. |
mode | How the island is offered: sale, rent, lease, sale_or_lease. |
status | Position at publication: available, quiet, under_offer, leased, archive, withdrawn. |
record_type | “history” = a dated entry from the island's price record; “current” = the stated position as of this edition. |
date | Date of the record as documented (year, year-month or full date). |
kind | What the figure is: listed, relisted, reduced, sold, asking, rental_rate. |
amount | The figure exactly as documented, in its native currency. |
currency | ISO code of the documented figure. |
unit | For rental rates only: night or week. |
basis | guide, rate, or empty where the figure is a plain asking price. |
usd_equivalent | Approximate USD conversion at the reference rates below; empty when the currency has no reference rate — we never assume parity. |
size_acres | Documented land area, where recorded. |
Citing the index
The index is free to cite and reuse with attribution. Suggested form: “The Atoll Index, privateisland.pro, Q3 2026” with a link to privateisland.pro/market/. For press enquiries, embargoed editions or the record behind a specific figure, use the contact page.
Limitations
Asking is not achieved: this market's defining feature is the gap between the two, and the index measures the documented public record, not private closing prices. Whole-island comparables are thin, currencies move against fixed reference rates, and sizes in public listings are sometimes inconsistent — which is precisely why every row links back to a profile where the record is attributed and flagged.
The quarterly
Atoll — islands, read closely.
Ownership, cost, tenure and the few islands that come to market each season. Reported plainly. No. 1 — The Quiet Market is out now; No. 2 in preparation.
Read the first issue