BARBADIANS STILL WANT to build their dream home despite a tough economic climate and continually high land prices.
But at least one mortgage financing company has had to send some prospective homeowners back to the drawing board since their desires exceed their ability to repay.
Word of this comes from Wavney Nicholls, general manager of retail banking with Republic Bank Mortgage Centre, who said Barbadians’ tastes in housing has not changed much over the years.
“Average people still have a dream house. I myself have?to send back and say to the prospective buyer, please go back to Town and Country Development Planning and adjust this [plan],” she said, adding that people who work for $2 500 “would bring a house plan that to finance will require a mortgage payment of $4000 a month.”
Nicholls said the new trend is that “everybody wants a two-level house and not with an apartment”.
“It’s just that you have to have this two-level house on an average of about 2 000 or 2 500 square feet,” she said.
The general manager noted that even though individuals suggest different ways they would be able to afford such a house, like building in two phases, “at the end of the day, we know that it’s going to be too costly to complete, so we have to send them back”.
Nicholls noted that even though many Barbadians hang on to their dreams, when the National Housing Corporation offers houses for $150 000 to $200 000, there is great demand. She said the mortgage market had slowed “tremendously” over the last three years as a result of the economic climate and despite the recession, property prices have increased.
“The housing cost has gone up but I think [this is because] the price of land has substantially increased.
“You had land in 2000 going at about $6 or $7 a square foot. Today if you find anything at $15 a square foot, you’re lucky – and most land is at $20 to $25 a square foot,” she said.
Nicholls added that 4 000 square feet of land, which is adequate for many people, now costs a conservatively estimated $75 000, whereas it would have cost about $30 000 in 2000.
“There’s still demand but it’s just everybody is playing a waiting game until things improve in the economy,” she said.
