Unpacking Housing Affordability in The Bahamas
Date issued
March 2026
Subject
Housing;
Affordable Housing;
Housing Market;
Land Use Planning;
Finance;
Housing Finance;
Bank Loan;
Real Estate Development;
Consumer Credit
JEL code
R21 - Housing Demand;
R31 - Housing Supply and Markets;
R14 - Land Use Patterns;
G21 - Banks • Depository Institutions • Micro Finance Institutions • Mortgages;
D14 - Household Saving; Personal Finance;
H54 - Infrastructures • Other Public Investment and Capital Stock
Country
Bahamas
Category
Technical Notes
This note seeks to enrich the discussion on potential solutions in the housing sector of The Bahamas. It builds on the IMFs April 2025 Bahamas Housing Affordability Report providing insights through analyses of datasets on housing stock (using the 2022 Census), spatial expansion intensity, completed real estate sale transactions and Central Bank statistics on mortgage lending, as well as interviews with mortgage providers. The analysis finds that formal housing solutions are increasingly out of reach of low and middle-income households in The Bahamas. We find seven factors or “drivers” that help in providing an explanation of this phenomenon and, in turn, become helpful when designing and implementing potential policy solutions.
NO