Still Booming in ‘22

beat.

It spurred robust economic activity throughout the islands and generated lots of VAT revenue for the cash strapped Public Treasury.

Local businesses, especially construction, short-term vacation rentals, restaurants, stores and car rentals, reaped the benefits.

If you were a skilled tradesperson, you could write your ticket as property owners scrambled to find experienced contractors, carpenters, plumbers and electricians.

What caused the prolonged flood in sales?

Well, a combination of factors fell in place to keep the momentum going during 2022.

Wealthy foreigners, Americans mainly, invested in property to hedge their bets against high inflation and rising interest rates.

And pent-up property demand from the pandemic continued, triggering lifestyle changes such as early retirement. Technology allowed buyers to work from their island homes.

People wanted to live the dream of owning a home on a warm and beautiful island with the healthy outdoors at their fingertips.

As always, the Bahamas’ proximity to the U.S. mainland played a huge role in the country’s fortunes.

Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine made our islands an even more attractive haven in the face of global turmoil.

A stable political environment, anchored by the pillars of parliamentary democracy and an independent judiciary, provided comfort to foreign investors.

And Eleuthera continued to lure locals - a hot spot for Nassau-weary Bahamians looking to relocate or buy a second home.

Many Bahamians have invested in Airbnb rental properties, receiving a steady and significant flow of revenue.

Will the housing market cool in 2023?

At some point, sales will “normalize” and may have already started to, following the US Federal Reserve’s incremental interest rate hikes to cool inflation in the U.S. Only time will tell.

But the surge of the last two years has helped to strengthen, develop and position the islands for the years ahead.

Real estate, bought in the right place at the right time, remains a solid investment.

Thank God We Made It

While the last few years have been the most difficult in the country’s modern history, we made it through 2022 without a major hurricane.

I’m not downplaying the damage caused by Nicole and Ian, but it could have been much worse.

We have a lot to be thankful for.

Happy New Year to all my readers. Wishing your health, peace and prosperity in 2023.

ment in the wake of Guaidó’s removal. Since it was Guaidó who, himself, made this appointment as “President of the National Assembly”, and he has been removed by the same opposition National Assembly, the entire scheme at the OAS now falls away. Unless, of course, 19 governments are brazen enough to try to once again bulldoze and bully the other members of the Organization to accept another mockery of customary international law and practice.

It is most unlikely that 19 member states will support such an initiative. The vote at the OAS General Conference on 6 October, 2022 was self-evident. Only 4 countries voted against the Resolution by Antigua and Barbuda, whose objective was to restore respect for law and rules at the OAS by removing Guaidó’s representative.

Spain has shown the way to all those who initially recognized Guaidó. On 28 De- cember 2022,

The reality is that on 27 April 2017, the Government of Venezuela denounced the OAS Charter and announced its withdrawal from membership of the Organization with effect two years later on April 27, 2019, as required by the Charter. Since then, a pretender has wrongly occupied the Venezuelan seat, not paying any part of the $10 million, ascribed as dues payable by Venezuela over the last 4 years.

The consequence was false accounting that has contributed to the inability of the Organisation to fulfil its mandate to the peoples of the member states.

This additional fallacy must also now end.