The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

Realtors yesterday argued that the Government’s $30m investment in the 147-unit affordable home Premier Estates subdivision will barely “dent” The Bahamas’ 12,000-strong housing shortage.

Praising the Government for the proposed development in the Perpall Tract area, Mikhail Barnett, an agent with Condo Vikings and Jolie Luxury Homes, nevertheless argued that architectural structures and engineering have to be upgraded. He added that homes now need to be built similar to high-rises in New York given the scarcity of land available in New Providence.

“We need to start thinking like how New York is being built,” he said. “The way they're able to have millions of persons within their population is because they build up. And in real estate, we learn that you own your plot of land, what is below it and the airspace above it -  of course, at a reasonable height - because there's air restrictions, space and planes. But we got to start building up.

“So the Government's plan is to invest $30m on 147-units of affordable homes. But the dent, what they're trying to put that in, is making up for 12,000 homes, which is less than 1 percent basically... The architectural structures and the engineering have to be upgraded. We need to now think about building high-rise homes. We need to think about New York. 

“Think about the density of New Providence because it's growing. They said they're going to build a single-family home on a 5,000 square foot lot. When, really, if you take 30,000 square feet and you build a high rise of maybe 20 to 25 units, then you maximise your 30 acres.”

With the high-rise option, 25 homes can be built over 30,000 square feet versus one home being built over 5,000 square feet, Mr Barnett said. He also suggested the Government implement a homeowner association for such high-rise buildings where residents pay a $100 monthly maintenance fee. The fee would cover the quarterly or yearly painting of the building as well as lawn maintenance, which would save the Government money.

Mr Barnett said high-rise buildings can also allow for extra parking spaces. “If persons had a reliable, professional, trustworthy transportation system that shows up on time and respects law and order, versus how these bus systems currently are, I'm sure I would park my car, leave it home, and I would use the bussing system,” he said.

“So we take away the burden of traffic when we create so much density when it comes to buildings, residential buildings. The housing market is almost like the cars. You have one person to a car when, if you carpool, we could have 50 persons to a car. The same thing with Premier Estates. You can have 25 units on a 30,000 square foot lot, versus one single family home on a 5,000 square foot lot.

“And if you do the math on 30 acres, you could do something amazing. Keith Bell, Prime Minister Philip Davis, all of them are very forward thinkers and I know they can do it. JoBeth Coleby, at the Ministry of Transport, I know she could do it. Everybody could come together, and these ministries could do something very amazing.”

Mr Barnett added: “You can't build 147 single family homes and expect to say you're going to make a change within the housing market when you need 12,000 homes - and that's what you need to be building per year.”

He said there are Bahamians who will be priced out of the housing market, and the country will see more homelessness “not by choice, but because their parents never gave them a head start and left them generational land”.

“Imagine the Bahamas in 100 years,” he added. “You can't create land, but you could go up with the high-rise buildings and give some people some sort of ownership through owning a condo. It's not about what the people are used to. It's what you need. It's what we need. And sometimes we don't understand the hard choices that have to be made, whether people see the vision or not.”

Catherine MacLeay, of HG Christie, said Bahamian home buyers struggle to obtain mortgages from the banks because of their existing debt and income levels.

“You still got to do credit checks and stuff like that,” she said. “It's like in Nassau, you've got two-thirds of the country's population, so they're always going to be needing housing. But, for example, Grand Bahama certainly needs housing. We need it as either rental options - one, two and three bedroom options. Or we need two to four-bedroom houses that are affordable for people to purchase.

“And that's where it's really tough, because it's building costs, importing the cost of things that adds the price up, the building price. Then they have to be able to qualify with the banks.”