NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Bahamas Real Estate Association (BREA) president Christine Wallace-Whitfield said yesterday that the industry association and its members have received multiple complaints about 2022 real property tax bills, telling Eyewitness News, “a lot of people have been shocked”.
Wallace-Whitfield said: “We have been receiving lots of complaints regarding the increases in real property tax. It’s kind of thrown us a bit for a loop. We didn’t see that coming. A lot of people have been shocked. The first thing they do is contact BREA. I have seen people saying it’s gone up as much as 200 to 300 percent.”
Economic Affairs Minister Michael Halkitis said yesterday that while real property tax rates across the country have not increased, a complete reassessment of the property tax register has led to some properties being reevaluated.
According to Halkitis, there was a significant undervaluation of some properties.
“The rates haven’t jumped; they remained the same,” he said.
“What has happened is that we have completed a total reassessment of the property tax register.”
Wallace-Whitfield also noted that the real estate industry has seen an uptick in sales despite the pandemic.
“We did see an uptick in sales and it has been great for a lot of companies who have been able to see increase in their sales that has been a tremendous benefit for them,” she said.
“It really started towards the end of 2020 when we started to see sales increase and in 2021 there as a steady increase in sales. I’m sure the Treasury was thankful. We are still seeing a lot of people out there wanting to get into the real estate industry. All in all 2021 was a good year for a lot of the real estate agents and brokerage firms.”
