The significant demand for Bahama real estate has shifted how buyers are looking at properties. The shift from lived-in homes has pivoted to pre-construction and pre-completed dwellings, while an uptick in available inventory has followed demand.
The summer of 2022 has been wild, one unlike any other, which is something to say in light of the past couple of years.
People have been itching to travel, to get out of crowded cities, and explore and experience new locations and cultures.
To be clear, a lot is going on this summer, from London burning and Western Europe under a fire advisory and heat advisories across the United States. Yet despite the heat, one would think it strange that ecotourism in hotter climates is up this year over previous years.
And when examined through the lens of the price of goods and gas, petrol, and jet fuel spiking, it’s remarkable that tourism has only increased.
In spite of these inflationary concerns, there’s been a spike in ecotourism over the past 1 ½ years, with exotic locales being one of the primary destinations.
Yet, that’s what’s happening, tourism, to the tune of $17 billion, with ecotourism especially hot right now.
Ecotourism trends and benefits
There are various reasons that ecotourism is so popular, from post-Covid interest, academic institutions educating people about these exotic locales, and governmental initiatives favorable to ecotourism.
Traveling and tourism provide substantial opportunities for personal and professional development. Research has shown that travel has significant health benefits. Among others, traveling gives you these benefits;
- Boosts moods
- Alleviates stress
- Enhances creativity
- Fosters empathy
- Opens understanding of other cultures
- Reinforces mental resilience
Ecotourism provides significant personal growth, especially mentally. But ecotourism offers substantial benefits in other ways as well.
The popularity of ecotourism and more travel and tourism requires businesses to accommodate the tourists' needs. Therefore, these trends also provide significant opportunities for investment and business development.
Ecotourism, then, is a boon for the traveler and the business person if approached ethically and strategically.
One area where people have investment opportunities is through real estate investments and ownership.
Individual ownership is not allowed in some areas that allow ecotourism, which makes sense to keep the surrounding areas pristine. But in other areas, such as the Caribbean and the Bahamas, real estate is a great investment vehicle for individuals.
Bahama real estate market trends 2022
The real estate market can only be described as hot in the Bahamas. Since the start of 2022, the area has seen a record of interest in real estate ownership, from single-family homes to multi-family units, with luxury Bahamas real estate seeing a surge like never before.
Reasons for the surge may be post-COVID, awareness and desire for more isolated, pristine environments, as well as a limited inventory making prices more competitive for buyers. In fact, in 2021, the Bahamas saw an unprecedented level of interest and transactions for local real estate, and that trend has shown no signs of slowing down.
In other words, people are leaving the cities and looking for more natural environments to live in.
The significant demand for Bahama real estate has shifted how buyers are looking at properties. The shift from lived-in homes has pivoted to pre-construction and pre-completed dwellings, while an uptick in available inventory has followed demand.
Even with inflation being combated with higher interest rates, the trends in most locations remain hot.
Inflation versus interest rates
Inflation can impact the costs of all goods and services in a variety of ways. For example, one-way inflation affects the housing market in that as inflation rises, interest rates increase to slow down the rising costs.
What raising interest rates mean for home buyers is that home appreciation slows down some while the cost of securing a mortgage increases, making it more competitive to secure funding and a higher price to pay back the loan.
As rates increase, there’s less money in the market, slowing demand and stabilizing prices. For most goods, those rate increases will slow demand, helping stabilize prices.
However, for housing, that means that costs will stabilize, but it will cost more to secure the mortgage as a result.
As more people travel, especially taking advantage of ecotourism, those experiences expose them to more unique living locations.
And with crowded cities and heat waves becoming the norm, finding a little isolated paradise such as the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and other locations is becoming very popular for home shoppers.
Photo by Fernando Jorge on Unsplash
