Land Value Skyrockets
By Quincy Parker
Short of some catastrophe, like perhaps Sol Kerzner pulling out of The Bahamas and the 8,000 plus Atlantis workers losing their jobs, the value of undeveloped property in Eastern New Providence will be out of reach of most Bahamians within a generation.......
"Land is so scarce in the east that values are increasing because there just is not much left."
She said that a lot in Seabreeze that was valued at $75,000 to $80,000 a year ago is commanding $95,000 to $100,000 now.
"It’s because there’s no more land for sale anymore in the east," she said.
http://www.jonesbahamas.com/?c=47&a=13830

Very soon my predication will come true. 50,000 people will be relocated off the island of New Providence in order to ensure survival.

Ms. Pinder said that she really didn’t see any way, short of the aforementioned catastrophe or if Nassuvians decided en masse to move to the Family Islands, for the price of undeveloped land "out east" to come down.
:bouncy: :bouncy: :bouncy:

Well...people will live closest to where the resources are. Right now the money and jobs are on New Providence. How do lots go for on the other islands?

what does she mean a generation from now property would be too expensive?

ITS TOO EXPENSIVE NOW. check it out the price of the property alone would cost the mortgage to be in the thousand dollar range then when you tack on building a house the mortgage would run somewhere between 1300-1900 bucks per month. for most people in new providence the mortgage would be too costly, they could afford 1900 p/m but they also have other financial responsibilities.

hence the reason most people are flocking to gov housing. btw- the average low cost house mortgage is like 800-900 plus

around 20 yrs ago my mom got a house and property for 60k. thats house and property now, not just the property. it was a decent sized house 3bd 2bth, living, dining room, kitchen. and the property was a decent size, in fact she was able to add on a 1,000 sq ft. addition and still have generous space on the property.

also the house and property wasnt in a ghetto either. today the house is valued around 4 times as much of the orginal price (so i guess the high cost of homes is good for some people :)

my mom loves to tell stories about the hay day when lots in golden gates cost 6,000 and how she so sorry she didnt invest in at least another piece of property back then.

i too often wonder how a young nassuvian would be able to buy land and then lets say when the next generation is ready to buy property and land in nassau cost around 150k, the property price in abaco, exuma and the other up and coming islands wont be too far behind cuase i heard the prices are skyrocketing there as well.

plenty of bahamians on eleuthera own their own property, and have been paying on time for years.

but yeah, when a place gets popular, real estate values rise. that's why people invest in real estate, to get positive returns on their investment. would you prefer that we return to the old days pre-tourism? blame the ministry of tourism, then.

[QUOTE=bahmaboy] There are some solutions such as redevelopment of other family Islands where land is in abundance. If jobs are created on these islands nassuvians would migrate, bringing a halt to the purchasing of the expensive property in nassau. REALESTATE developers and land owners will be force to lower the prices. As its stands now the properties are being bought so if it continues the prices will only go up. the family islands are the way to go Nassau is overpopulated.

Land would not be so expensive if only Bahamians could buy it. How are Bahamians supposed to compete for land with the rich and famous from around the world? They want second and third homes in the Bahamas while Bahamians want a home but because these rich people have driven the price of land up so high it is impossible for natives to buy one. I have come to the conclussion that i will have to rent for the rest of my life as i can not afford a house. Bahamians are getting put out of their own country. I am sick of hearing about luxury when i do not even have a shack to lay my head!

nassau is overcrowded, and there's a bidding war as a result for choice property. one of the earliest lessons i learned from my grandfather was to save, save, save to buy land. more so than gold chains, nice cars, nice clothes, shopping trips overseas.

how (and why) would you restrict land ownership to bahamians now? that horse left the barn a long time ago. the bahamas has been carefully cultivating the second-home market for decades now, so yes ... bahamians are finally competing with expats for property, having taken it for granted all of these years. another sign of how our paternalistic government has let us down ... we expect it to "take care" of us.

nassau is overcrowded, and there's a bidding war as a result for choice property. one of the earliest lessons i learned from my grandfather was to save, save, save to buy land. more so than gold chains, nice cars, nice clothes, shopping trips overseas.
how (and why) would you restrict land ownership to bahamians now? that horse left the barn a long time ago. the bahamas has been carefully cultivating the second-home market for decades now, so yes ... bahamians are finally competing with expats for property, having taken it for granted all of these years. another sign of how our paternalistic government has let us down ... we expect it to "take care" of us.

I totally agree!

Disclaimer: I am playing devils advocate here!!!!!

But anyone ever thought that we just really never realised the real costs and value for what we all feel we are inherently entitled to? I mean Bahamians are so used to driving past huge plots of undeveloped land and saying " my daddy/ granddaddy/ family own form dat tree over dere to dis tree over here" but we actually don't do a damn thing with the property. It just sits there generations and generations without any care or concern. But our cars are fixed up, our jewelry is on point, we visit the States 2 or 3 time s a year and spend n spend. Now there are much more proactive and business minded individuals who see the true value and prospects for these pieces of land and they have saved personally or as a group have secured enough money to create their own bidding war.... .the same amounts of monies that would of equated to what the average Bahamian foolishly spent in say 3yrs and very well could of saved to buy/ develop the land. But they come in and do what we should of been doing ourselves if only we realized the true value of what we have. So can you blame the prices totally on them.... or on us?

..... we should of had thousands of Bahamians who are financially sound because of land development projects by now, but I am fairly convinced that we have no development sense and are not interested and very short sighted. I don't mind paying 95K for a piece of property in an area whose real estate value can hold its amount over the years. I do agree that Bahamians have and continue to be priced out in many cases but what one person can't alone do many with the same goals can accomplish. We need to get together and form investment groups whose charter is clearly defined by legal agreements... not our regular bar room agreements. Take back a comfortable percentage of the market amongst ourselves and the foreign real estate agents would loose their degree of market strength and then have to negotiate on a more controllable level.

I totally agree!

Disclaimer: I am playing devils advocate here!!!!!

But anyone ever thought that we just really never realised the real costs and value for what we all feel we are inherently entitled to? I mean Bahamians are so used to driving past huge plots of undeveloped land and saying " my daddy/ granddaddy/ family own form dat tree over dere to dis tree over here" but we actually don't do a damn thing with the property. It just sits there generations and generations without any care or concern. But our cars are fixed up, our jewelry is on point, we visit the States 2 or 3 time s a year and spend n spend. Now there are much more proactive and business minded individuals who see the true value and prospects for these pieces of land and they have saved personally or as a group have secured enough money to create their own bidding war.... .the same amounts of monies that would of equated to what the average Bahamian foolishly spent in say 3yrs and very well could of saved to buy/ develop the land. But they come in and do what we should of been doing ourselves if only we realized the true value of what we have. So can you blame the prices totally on them.... or on us?

..... we should of had thousands of Bahamians who are financially sound because of land development projects by now, but I am fairly convinced that we have no development sense and are not interested and very short sighted. I don't mind paying 95K for a piece of property in an area whose real estate value can hold its amount over the years. I do agree that Bahamians have and continue to be priced out in many cases but what one person can't alone do many with the same goals can accomplish. We need to get together and form investment groups whose charter is clearly defined by legal agreements... not our regular bar room agreements. Take back a comfortable percentage of the market amongst ourselves and the foreign real estate agents would loose their degree of market strength and then have to negotiate on a more controllable level.
This post is total BS. You as a young Bahamian with land,try go into the bank to develop a piece of it to get ahead and see what their response willl be. This Country is not set up for the average joe to get over.The most money a Bahamian can make is by selling his/her property.

This post is total BS. You as a young Bahamian with land,try go into the bank to develop a piece of it to get ahead and see what their response willl be. This Country is not set up for the average joe to get over.The most money a Bahamian can make is by selling his/her property.

his post is filled with optimism. respect that.

and even if your rational is to be believed...well shouldnt we strive to change/amend this crab antic arrangement? and what about a bunch of average joes pooling their resources?

....The most money a Bahamian can make is by selling his/her property.[/B]


...Which will come back to bite you in a few years when it is all gone and you are looking for a piece. A squatter in your own country. *sigh*

If only one thing came out of the "no title generation property" set is that they weren't all about selling up their birthright so quickly.

Give them the papers and they call up HG Christie the same day.




I am not against development. I am against Bahamians not realising just how financial valuable our islands are.

...Which will come back to bite you in a few years when it is all gone and you are looking for a piece. A squatter in your own country. *sigh*
If only one thing came out of the "no title generation property" set is that they weren't all about selling up their birthright so quickly.
Give them the papers and they call up HG Christie the same day.
I am not against development. I am against Bahamians not realising just how financial valuable our islands are.

does anyone know much about land trusts?

also the rentals ... many bahamians buy property to do them up and rent ONLY to foreigners .. like $3-5k a month .. man they knocked us normal peeps right out of that market ..

I remember my childhood. My daddy like many is not a sophisticated investor. Like most Bahamians, even though he understands them, he would not spend too much on mutual funds and equity markets. Besides, that was out of his reach in the Bahamas.


What he DID understand though was real estate. My parents were not rich. Like many straw vendors my mother LOVED asues. They used asue money to buy their first fourplex in 1971 in Freeport, TWO DAYS after they married.


Daddy always told me, You should buy a piece of property with part of your savings every year or two. It didn't have to be fancy he said. He even instructed be how to look for undeveloped areas people would turn their nose up at and call "bush". One less trip to Miami he said.

That man would hustle and buy land all over the Bahamas every single year.

Anybody know Hudson Estates in Freeport? Well daddy bought 5 lots in Hudson Estates before anything was down there. Nothing was their except the Old St John's church. No Central Church, No houses, No Walter Parker school, No loops, not even good roads. We used to have to take a cutlass to drive the tract road to the lots when he wanted to show it to us.

He paid $1500 each for those lots. Picked them up off a foreign fella leaving. He would buy pieces for $5-7G's in FPO back in the 80's, all with asue and a year's savings. People called him crazy when he bought lots 'over the bridge'. "Ein nobody ga live far out there, they said.


When he got laid off from the hotel in the 90's he sold two of those lots to start him and mum up good in the straw bag buisness. Everyone else was crying.

When I went of to college, he sold one piece to pay for my first year. Same for my brothers.


7 years ago I told him I could not afford to do what he did because land was too expensive. He told me I make WAY more than he ever did and I couldn't afford NOT to buy land. Good thing I listened. Land is 10 times the price now.

I only wish I had bought a few pieces in funky Nassau.



~~

Bey sunny, me too ...

Hey on that other thing I ga get back to you soon as I hear back from them ..