The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A realtor believes that the government’s VAT waivers/discounts on southern Family Island real estate sales will have minimal impact unless accompanied by access and infrastructure upgrades.

David Morley, Morley Real Estate’s president, told Tribune Business that waiving the VAT for Bahamians on property transactions worth less than $500,000, and discounting it for foreigners, will not have the desired effect by itself unless other challenges are addressed.

“The thing with the southern islands is the issue of accessibility of goods and services,” he said, recalling how his father was advised not to invest in Sir Franklyn Wilson’s South Eleuthera with “guns blazing” due to the need to take a phase approach to infrastructure build-out.

Mr Morley added: “Development in the southern islands won’t happen overnight, but I understand what the government is trying to do. They are trying to encourage people to move to these less populated areas. However, there is nothing there for people to go to and it’s going to take time to get a development up and running on those islands.

“A lot of people are not prepared to give up their comfort and access to services to move to a remote island. But when it happens it’s going to be a domino effect. Someone with a development will go down there, and there will be a couple of other people who follow and it will take-off from there.”

Heather Lightbourn-Peterson, broker at Coldwell Banker Lightbourn Realty, said of the budget’s tax breaks: “We’re really excited to see him [the prime minister] offering that incentive to stimulate the economy on the southern islands. I also think that offering incentives like this will encourage different entities to look into expanding to those islands.”