While in lockdown you may be dreaming of a home with a garden, or a place by the sea.

But for billionaires shut away in their penthouse apartments, the pandemic has sparked some more ambitious property aspirations.

Inquiries for private islands for sale in the Caribbean has quadrupled in the last six weeks, according to John Christie, an agent at HG Christie, affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate.

“After 9/11, the same thing happened,” says Christie. “People were scared and sought a safe haven. At the moment, all the private island owners who would normally use the islands for two months a year are now in residence until everything blows over.”

With turmoil in the stock markets, the value of trophy assets such as private islands can be hit. “The one thing you don’t need is a private island,” says Christie. “But conversely with the pandemic, it’s the first thing that many people are looking for, thinking ‘gee I wish I wasn’t stuck here in a city, I wish I was on a tropical island safe from the pandemic’. So it pushes up the value for those with money.

“For the sort of people who buy private islands, if the stock market goes up or down, they will have enough to get by.”