The Tribune

• Realtor says four deals for August to-date

• Another firm up 25% on 2022 transactions

• Predicts 120-140 sales closings by 2022-end

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Realtors yesterday asserted the Bahamian property market has joined tourism in becoming a year-round industry with one revealing that July exceeded all other months "by at least 30 percent" as the strongest for contract signings.

Ryan Knowles, MAISON Bahamas founder and chef executive, told Tribune Business that he had already finalised four transactions during the first ten days in August with early year market uncertainty now "dissipated" and buyers ready "to pull the trigger" on properties that meet their requirements.

He was backed by Matt Sweeting, chief executive at 1oak Bahamas, who said his firm was around "25 percent ahead of where we were last year" in terms of real estate sales closed for the year-to-date. With the company having completed around 100 transactions in each of its first two years, he is projecting that it is on pace to close between 120-140 for the 2023 full-year - an increase of between 20-40 percent.

Bahamian real estate activity traditionally slows during the hot summer months, but both men said there had been no - or only marginal - signs of moderation in 2023 when compared to previous years. "For us, it's been a busy summer. Definitely busier than pre-COVID; far busier than pre-COVID," Mr Knowles told this newspaper.

"In summer, you can usually take off for a couple of weeks and not miss much, and go on vacation. I haven't been able to do that. There's a lot of demand with people visiting the island and looking around. It was already changing before COVID, with summer becoming a lot busier, but people have a desire to travel, come down and look around.

"July was the strongest month of the year for us as far as signed contracts. That goes to show we've become a full-time market. We're not seasonal any more. It's a year-round market. That was our strongest month of the year. I would say it exceeded the next closest month by at least 30 percent. August, there's a lot of interest, a lot of activity, a lot of offers being signed. It's only August 10 and I've finalised four deals this month."

Mr Knowles had in April 2023 predicted that the Bahamian real estate market, especially for high-end sales, would likely "cool off" a little in 2023 and take a "pause" after the "frantic, crazy" post-COVID buying spree. Confirming that this outlook has changed, he said yesterday: "The hesitancy, which was there at the start of the year, has dissipated. If people like properties that make sense for them they're pulling the trigger on it.

"The last time you and I spoke I said the market was a little shaky, but it seems confidence has come back quite a bit. 2022 benefited from 2021. There was a bit of spill over from contracts that were signed in 2021 and which closed last year. I think 2023 and 2022 will be somewhat close. The market peaked in 2021, so once it peaks it has to come down from that, which is normal, but I would say right now that the outlook is positive - as positive as it has been for the whole year.

"Sentiment is coming back and inventory is coming back. One of the issues was that we did not have enough inventory. That's starting to change. We had buyers who were looking for properties that we could not find for them, so that affected transaction activity. As more homes come on the market, and people decide they are ready to sell, that will continue to spur activity going forward," Mr Knowles continued.

"2023 is looking to turn out to be a pretty good year, and 2024 will be an excellent year. It will be on a par with some of the best years we've had should things continue the way they are going. We will have more people contributing to the Government's coffers with all the VAT they pay on property sales. The better real estate does, hopefully the better the economy will do."

Mr Sweeting, meanwhile, said the "still considerable activity" in both the Bahamian and foreign segments of the real estate market meant that business volumes "don't seem to have slowed". He added: "There is a slowing, but it's not as clearly visible because we're in one of the best markets that we've seen in real estate's history. I think we're going to see a very healthy market in the third and fourth quarters" as buyers and sellers return from summer vacation.

Describing himself and his firm as "super busy", Mr Sweeting added: "I think I just closed my biggest sale this month with the old Kodak building on Thompson Boulevard, and I've personally closed $3m worth of sales in the last 30 days, so we're super, super busy. There's still tremendous demand for housing at both the local and high-ends. Properties are staying on the market for less than 30 days if priced appropriately.

"The market has also seen a considerable uptick in prices per square foot, so we're seeing a record price per square foot in both the local and high-end market. All indications are that the market is doing extremely well, and 2023 will be another exciting year in real estate and the same in 2024.

"As a company, we're probably 25 percent ahead of where we were last year in terms of transactions done. I'm looking at that based on invoices written. The first two years, we wrote about 100 invoices per year. This year we're already at about 70-80 transactions, and we're only in August. I think we will be at about 120-140 transactions at year-end. That's a 20-40 percent increase in business."

Mario Carey, chairman and founder of Better Homes and Gardens MCR Bahamas, told Tribune Business that buyers are more confident "to take a risk" in using real estate as an investment and development tool.

"A lot of people are willing to take a risk in the real estate space," he explained. "It's an easier proposition to convince people to buy property they can develop. If you have a multi-family property, you will be able to buy that, develop it and then rent out a unit or two.

"There's a lot of confidence in the real estate market. It's a good investment as far as risk goes. People feel very comfortable coming into that space, and are looking to develop and build and use real estate as an investment tool."