LOST EARNINGS: Report estimates $118M loss in rental housing income due to COVID-19 ex-pat exit

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an estimated $118 million loss in rental housing income as more than 3,000 homes were reportedly vacated when foreign nationals stopped renting and left the country, a recent report has revealed. 

The report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) titled, “Assessment of the Effects and Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic in The Bahamas,”  noted that by 2021 there were about 3,486 homes rented by foreigners. 

The report noted that the most significant impact on the housing sector was the departure of foreigners that returned to their countries due to the pandemic. 

“This group stopped renting housing for a period estimated at 20 months (April 2020 to December 2021),” the report said.

“According to the baseline analysis, 3,096 homes were rented by foreigners who left the country. Using the 2021 baseline home value as a base plus the land value, the loss of those rentals can be estimated in the amount of BSD $118,325 million in those 20 months, representing 0.94 percent of GDP in 2021.

“The most significant impact on the reduction of income from rental housing is noticeable in New Providence for a total of BSD $82.4 million, Grand Bahama with BSD $16.6 million, Abaco with BSD $5.2 million, and Eleuthera with BSD $5 million.”

The report continued: “Foreign citizens are potentially the most likely to return to their countries of origin in pandemic conditions and, therefore, would stop renting the occupied home. Part of that population resides in the Bahamas for commercial ties or international relations, while others come to get jobs not available in their country.

“The assumption is that persons of the Caribbean mainly integrate the second group, a population with permanent jobs in the country, which would remain to rent. Therefore, the residents that could stop renting a home when returning to their country would be the citizens of the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and other nationalities.”