There is an increased demand for low and moderately priced houses which the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation wants to help meet, according to Corporation Managing Director Rory Higgs.
“Right now on the drawing board there is roughly 1,300 homes that are planned for construction; 815 of that amount represents homes that are being constructed in New Providence,” he disclosed in an interview with the Bahama Journal on Monday. “The unit cost of a home ranges from $60,000 to around $85,000.”
Altogether the homes will cost close to $2 million to be constructed, he indicated. That price tag includes construction and infrastructure.
The houses have a 12 to 16 months timeframe for completion and have been scheduled for construction in New Providence, Grand Bahama, Exuma, Abaco, San Salvador and Andros.
“What we have seen is a significant demand for low and moderate cost, moderate income housing,” Mr. Higgs said.
“As a result of that there is a serious move to increase the supply of homes to meet that demand. The Mortgage Corporation is responsible for financing most of the government initiated homes.”
An act of parliament established the Mortgage Corporation in 1983. The Corporation began operations in October that same year.
Recently, the Mortgage Corporation received parliament’s approval to issue $50 million worth of bonds to finance the construction of homes for Bahamians.
A $5 million private offering was carried out in July. All bonds were sold to the National Insurance Board.
“There are various institutions out there looking for reasonable investment vehicles that they can get a good rate of return on and we have found that those bonds are attractive compared to what they would receive on an ordinary fixed deposit account at any of the banks,” Mr. Higgs said.
“So even the banks participate because they know the returns on the investments are significant.”
The second issue of bonds is expected to go out within the next six months.
In New Providence, 43 homes are scheduled for construction in Golden Isles I and there are plans for the construction of an additional 47 homes in Golden Isles II, according to Mr. Higgs.
To secure financing, potential homeowners are required to come into The Bahamas Mortgage Corporation to complete an assessment.
That assessment determines whether they have sufficient income to service the debt or the mortgage they are looking to obtain.
Once completed the assessment is sent to the Department of Housing for review. Those approved are assigned a house in one of the government’s subdivisions.
By: Tosheena Robinson-Blair, The Bahama Journal
