Bahamas property - property for sale in the Bahamas

Property in the Bahamas

This collection of 700 islands is handily placed just off Florida, separating the Caribbean from the Atlantic Ocean and within a short hop of the airports of Miami or Orlando. If you’re looking for classic picture of island perfection, it’s here: palm-fringed beaches? There are 3,500km of them. Restaurants serving freshly-caught fish by a tropical sunset? No problem. Lush cricket fields and policemen in crisp white uniforms? Oh yes. If it weren’t for the cruise-ships that tie up each morning in Nassau to disgorge thousands of shopaholic, fun-seeking Americans, it would look very much like when the Duke of Windsor was sent here with Mrs Simpson in 1940.

The architecture is colonial and woody, with wide verandas and jacaranda trees in each expertly manicured garden, but lately the fashion has been more towards the Florida-style villa which is easier to maintain and hurricane proof. And even with air-conditioning, you’ll still want to slowly rotating ceiling fan to complete the picture, though the trade winds keep the climate mild all year.

Property prices in Nassau are just starting to take off after several years of slow growth. Historically, the Bahamas follows the Florida market at a two-year lag, and two years ago Florida’s market jumped 40 per cent. Much of the capital appreciation in Nassau is down to the new, gloriously tacky Atlantis Resort and the even large €1.6 billion Baha Mar on Cable Beach. This 1,000 acre mixed-use destination complex is the largest resort investment in the history of the Bahamas, with phase one to include 2,000 guest rooms across multiple, first-class branded hotels and the Caribbean’s largest Las Vegas-style casino. These developments are bringing thousands of skilled tradesmen and project managers from the USA, so the rental market is booming too.

But there are plenty of other islands to choose from, and the current favourite is Eleuthera, which may sound like a nasty medical condition but is in fact a favourite of the rich and famous, that is being developed to attract the not so famous (though you’ll still probably need to be quite rich).

Airports: Nassau/Freeport/local airports served by many flights from Florida