The troubling increase in crime has not had an impact on the real estate market, although there is the potential for trouble if the violence continues, according local estate agents.
Managing Director of Property Consultancy Services Terry Hanton said there was no evidence to date of the crime situation deterring people from purchasing property here.
“I don’t know the upsurge in crime has had a significant impact. I think the bigger impact has been Brexit and the fall in value of the sterling,” Hanton said yesterday during the introduction to corporate clients of the approximately $20 million expansion of the Beach View Villas and Suites in Derricks, St James.
“I think that there is a potential for crime to have a huge impact in the future if it is not reined in, but I don’t think it has had a particularly significant impact to date.”
Barbados has recorded 25 murders so far this year, the most recent being a double homicide last night at Marley Vale, St Philip. Twenty-one of the killings have been gun related.
Noted realtor Sir Paul Altman said while the issue of crime was localized, all sectors of the society stood to be affected if the situation were not adequately addressed quickly.
“I think that crime in Barbados is very localized. Of course it affects everything in the island if it is not dealt with, but at the same time, it hasn’t reach that level. I am not trying to suggest that we should ignore it.
It needs to be dealt with. I think that is the first way that anyone would approach that subject,” said Sir Paul, the managing director of Altman Real Estate.
The second phase of the Beach View Villas and Suites located on two acres of land, will see the construction of 19 state-of-the-art condominium-type accommodations, bringing the total to 55, the equivalent of 150 rooms.
The development will also consist of two additional swimming pools, a reception area, a gym, a spa and a big restaurant.
The new two-bedroom and three-bedroom units cost between US$500,000 and US$800,000.
Hanton said the project, which is scheduled to be completed in November 2018, provided jobs for approximately 100 people.
Describing it as perhaps one of the most successful condominium-type hotel projects in Barbados, Hanton said occupancy levels for phase one usually averaged just over 70 per cent.
Pointing out that buyers came from all over the world, Hanton announced that customers for phase two were able to enter into a five-year rental programme.