The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A residential West Bay Street development was yesterday said to be more than 95 percent sold with rental rates some 20 percent higher than projected.

Randy Hart, president of Villanova Bahamas, told Tribune Business that the project’s second phase will be completed by April this year. Phase three is under construction now and will be completed in June, the first phase having been finished in November 2021

“The first phase is fully occupied. There are homeowners occupying certain units, and there are also other owners leasing their units, either long-term or short-term, but mostly long-term,” Mr Hart said.

“The market for the rentals has proven to be higher and even more robust than we had initially anticipated. The owners are receiving rents in excess of our initial projections - about, I would say, at least 15 percent to 20 percent higher than initially projected. We’re basically working on a waiting list basis for the rentals.”

The average cost for a rental unit was initially $2,800, but homeowners are now earning on average between $3,400 and $3,600 a month. Demand has spiked for housing in western New Providence, “with proximity to Cable Beach, down town and Paradise Island” among the elements sought-after by buyers.

Villanova’s buyers were said to be split evenly between expatriates and Bahamians, with just two units remaining to be sold. Villanova’s initial development cost was pegged at $14m. It has survived the COVID-19 pandemic after launching in December 2019. Most units are priced under $400,000, which place them within reach of the middle and upper middle class Bahamians.