NASSAU, BAHAMAS- The construction sector saw robust growth in the third quarter, driven by foreign investments and strengthened by domestic private sector activity, with total mortgage disbursements for new construction and repairs nearly doubling to $43.1 million according to the Central Bank.
This surge according to the regulator’s Quarterly Economic Review, September 2024, was supported by a 20 percent rise in residential disbursements to $24.8 million and a remarkable $18.2 million increase in commercial disbursements, reversing last year’s decline. The Central Bank noted: “During the third quarter, construction sector developments were undergirded by ongoing varied-scale foreign investment projects. Further, bank-financed domestic private-sector activity strengthened relative to the same quarter in 2023. As it pertains to the domestic component, total mortgage disbursements for new construction and repairs—as reported by banks, insurance companies and the Bahamas Mortgage Corporation—almost doubled to $43.1 million, relative to last year’s 3.3 percent uptick.”
It further noted: “Contributing to this development, residential disbursements grew further by 20 percent ($4.1 million) to $24.8 million, exceeding the 6.3 percent growth in the previous year. Moreover, commercial disbursements expanded $18.2 million, from just $1.3 million in the year prior, a reversal from the 29 percent reduction in 2023.”
The regulator’s report noted that compared to the same period last year, total mortgage commitments for new buildings and repairs—a forward-looking indicator of domestic activity—expanded by 64 to 117, while the associated value rose by 88.7 percent to $35.1 million.
The latest data regarding the construction sector’s performance comes on the heels of a recent report by The Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) which noted that The Bahamas recorded a 1.8 percent increase in real gross domestic product (GDP), equivalent to $115 million, during the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, with growth largely driven by a $57 million rise in the construction sector.
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