The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a study warning of a growing housing affordability crisis in The Bahamas.
According to a report from EWnews.com, the IMF study report stated Bahamian wages are not keeping up with behind rising real estate prices and rents, which surged by 14% between 2012 and 2022 while average wages only inched up by 2%. The study also observed that short-term rentals provided an economic boost to the Bahamian tourism sector, but they also worsened housing affordability opportunities.
The IMF recommended increasing both public and private investment in affordable housing, regulating the short-term rental market, and expanding access to credit for potential homeowners. The study went one step further by questioning what the local population is being paid.
“This wage stagnation has disproportionately affected the poor, with 58 percent of low-income households living in privately rented properties, making them vulnerable to volatile rental increases,” the IMF said.
