1-Oak Bahamas CEO and Real Estate Agent Matt Sweeting is commenting on the impact of crime on the real estate industry.

He said, “it would appear, and I think that this is the general belief of most Bahamians, that this crime is isolated by lifestyle. I say that to say that if you’re involved in criminal activity its a likelihood that that’s gonna come back to haunt you. And for a professional, a white color professional or a professional of any kind, we hardly have the concern we’re going to be abducted, we’re gonna be robbed by gun, its not a big concern of ours. And so while its on the radar we’ve not seen a direct correlation between people saying I do not want to live in this area because someone died here last month, because a murder happened around the corner. That’s about for a week or two, a month, maybe even a quarter but its not a considerable factor in the consideration of buying property in these areas where these crime is prevalent.”

Sweeting also explains that non of the metrics that contribute to the calculation of a property appraisal consider crime. “If your neighbour of your property was doing mechanic work just outside of your home that’s a perceived stigma because when the appraiser comes to appraise your property he is not taking into consideration that a mechanic shop is next door in your residential community. That’s not going to heavily factor into his valuation of the property. And similarly, the crime that’s happening is more of a perceived stigma than a real stigma because the appraised value is not going to have a considerable movement because a murder happened there last month, last week, even yesterday for that matter. And that’s congruent in what we’re seeing in the real estate market. That there’s not tremendous movement in pricing and values because of that.”

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