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Wednesday, May 27, 2026
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Tourism wages just 38% of ‘median’ Nassau mortgage BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN tourism and food industry workers earn on average just 38 percent of the salary needed to service a “median” New Providence mortgage and meet bank debt demands, it has been revealed, with this nation’s house priceto-earnings ratio branded “remarkably high”. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in a just-released March 2026 study on home affordability in The Bahamas, reaffirms that “formal housing solutions are increasingly out of reach of low and middle income households” with New Providence’s house price to income index - which measures affordability by comparing real estate costs
Bahamas ranked top with ‘remarkably high’ house price to earnings ratio Housing ‘increasingly out of reach’ of middle and lower income families IDB: Borrowers must have $67,000 upfront to obtain ‘median’ mortgage to earnings - shown as being among the highest in the world at 141:1. The report revealed that this ratio, in 2024, was higher than all major developed countries such as the US, Canada, UK, and every major Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) as it warned that home ownership prospects for many middle and lower class
Bahamians are becoming increasingly bleak without fundamental policy reforms that address declining new home builds and the ever-increasing number of existing properties that are falling into disrepair or becoming vacant. And, further highlighting the growing gap between housing affordability and costs that has been previously exposed by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others, the IDB study estimated that aspiring home buyers need to come up with $66,700 in cash upfront to cover bank and legal costs - not even including the VAT due on any sale - to qualify for a mortgage to purchase a New Providence property priced at the “median” $460,000 based on sales data. And, utilising this price as a benchmark, the IDB researchers found there was a near-$3,400 gap between the average monthly salaries earned by tourism and food industry workers and what would be required to service the mortgage on a $460,000 New Providence property while also meeting bank lender demands that they
QUALIFY - See Page B4
Sir Milo grandson’s legal ban: ‘Penalty doesn’t fit the crime’ BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A GRANDSON of Sir Milo Butler, the first Bahamian governor general, yesterday disclosed he is “extremely crushed and disappointed” but still “holding my head high” after the prohibition on him practicing as an attorney for “misappropriating” $862,287 from AML Foods was upheld. Craig F. Butler, principal of the law firm that bears the same name, told Tribune Business he feels his offence was “not worthy of disbarment” as he had
“never run away” from the fact he owed this sum to the BISX-listed food retail and franchise group and needed to repay it. Speaking out after the Court of Appeal, in a verdict issued yesterday, unanimously maintained the decision by the Bahamas Bar Council’s disciplinary tribunal to ban Mr Butler from the legal profession and strike him “from the Roll” while noting that AML Foods, the owner and operator of the Solomon’s and Cost Right retail formats, has yet to recover “any part of this debt” owed to it.
Liquor merchants fret on Brewery’s June 1 rises By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net THE price of alcoholic beverages is set to increase from June 1, merchants warned yesterday, asserting that it will increase rising financial pressures caused by weaker cruise passenger spending, competition from their own distributors and tax concerns. George Robinson Jr, owner of Base Road Wholesale Bar, said Commonwealth Brewery has already notified retailers that price increases are coming for several popular products. “A lot of liquor is going up June 1,” Mr Robinson said. “They already sent out notices that a lot of spirits will be going up. And you get the popular brand like the Kalik, Guinness and Heineken; all of them are going up June 1.” Mr Robinson said Commonwealth Brewery issued the notice. He expressed frustration that even locally-produced beer brands have become increasingly expensive. “Kalik is made here,” he said. “Guinness is made here. They are supposed to be the local beer. But it’s still getting very expensive.” The increases come as Commonwealth Brewery
informed customers in the notice, dated May 19, that select products will see price adjustments effective June 1 due to “continued increases in global production, freight, importation and raw material costs”. Beer will rise by 2.1 percent, while spirits will increase by 1.1 percent. The BISX-listed vertically integrated brewer, distributor and retailers said it had absorbed “the vast majority” of cost increases internally before implementing what it described as a modest adjustment to maintain “quality, consistency and availability” of products. For retailers, however, Mr Robinson said higher wholesale costs means retailers may also have to raise prices. “As a retailer, when they go up, we go up,” he said. “And we are facing a downward trend right now.” Despite tourism numbers remaining strong, Mr Robinson said his business has seen cruise ship passengers contribute less to sales than in previous years. “One time ago, how they brag about how the tourist numbers are up, we find, especially from the cruise ship passengers, that they are not benefiting us
DRINK - See Page B2
Noting that it has been nine years since the offence complained of occurred, when Mr Butler was representing AML Foods in a real estate deal and instead diverted the funds earmarked for the purchase to other unauthorised purposes, the Court of Appeal said: “The misappropriation of client funds constitutes one of the most serious forms of professional misconduct, as it strikes at the heart of the trust reposed in an attorney. “Although disbarment is the most serious sanction that can be placed on an
CRAIG F. BUTLER attorney, it is not reserved only for cases involving dishonesty. The respondent [Bar Council disciplinary tribunal] identified four material considerations justifying this sanction, namely, the seriousness of the breach by a senior attorney, the sacrosanct nature of client funds, the need for deterrence and
VERDICT - See Page B4
Realtors seek Budget stability and regulatory ‘burden’ ease BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN realtors yesterday urged the Government to preserve stability and continuity on property taxes through zero to minimal changes in today’s Budget while voicing concern over the increasing compliance and regulatory “paperwork” burden, David Morley, Morley Realty's broker/owner, told Tribune Business that several changes introduced by the Compliance Commission in the past year effectively amount to regulatory overkill and are unnecessary as he called on the Government “to ease the burden that exists” - and not just for realtors, but all Bahamian businesses. “The Compliance Commission in the past year has made several changes that affect DNFBPs (designated non-financial businesses and professions),” he said, noting that real estate agents, lawyers and accountants are among the industries affected. “One is their new e-mail message system does not ease business in
The Bahamas, as [it has] changed a single e-mail task and now makes it a multiple step task. The question raised in BREA (the Bahamas Real Estate Association) is to ask the Compliance Commission if this new system has improved the open rate of the recipients, which we highly doubt because the new system is a nuisance. “Second, the Compliance Commission now requires DNFBPs to more frequently ‘check-in’ and confirm that they are not dealing with persons of risk. There is another law in The Bahamas about fraudulent transactions that requires DNFBPs to report any suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Unit,” Mr Morley added. “If we have that legal obligation to adhere to, then why do we then in addition to this law - now have to frequently check-in with the Compliance Commission to tell them that we are not dealing with persons of risk. For many years now businesses in The Bahamas have complained about the ease of doing business and are looking to government to ease the burden that exists, but yet the Compliance Commission
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Carmichael Village’s contractor owned by drug suspect-tied firm BY NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE contractor developing the Government’s flagship Carmichael Village affordable housing project is owned by the company linked to the election-day plane crash drug accused, corporate records reveal. Documents filed with the Companies Registry, which is maintained by the Registrar General’s Department, reveal that 4,999 of Complete Construction’s 5,000 shares are held by Top Notch Builders, the Adelaide Road-based contractor that listed Jonathan Eric Gardiner as its president and a director in 2017. The paperwork, which has been obtained by Tribune Business following a database search conducted on its behalf, also discloses that Complete Construction’s officers and directors are virtually the same as Top Notch’s. Samson Hield, the former’s president, held the post of vice-president at Top Notch when the latter signed the separate ‘public-private partnership’ deal with the Government for the Eight Mile Rock administrative complex. Other Complete Construction directors are listed as Marc Robinson, a financial consultant and its treasurer; Alecia Bowe, an attorney and its secretary; and Michael Cooper, an insurance executive who is named as its vice-president. The trio are also all named as directors and officers of Top Notch in the latter’s corporate filings, suggesting that Complete Construction is an alias or front created by the former as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) specifically to perform the Carmichael Village project. There is no suggestion that any of Top Notch or Complete Construction’s officers and directors have appears to have added to the burden in the past year.” Mr Morley said maintaining the existing real property tax rates and structure, and employing the same with VAT on real estate sales, will foster continuity and potentially encourage increased investment by both Bahamians and foreigners.
Corporate records show Top Notch Builders owns Complete Construction Directors and officers for both firms the same as Pintard demands answers Gov’t SPV and contractor both formed by same attorney/Top Notch director done anything wrong, and there is nothing linking them to Mr Gardiner’s alleged activities or the charges against him. However, the revelations are likely to provoke further scrutiny over the multi-million dollar construction contracts that the Government has entered into with Top Notch and its affiliates for both the Eight Mile Rock administrative complex, projected to cost Bahamian taxpayers more than $50m, and now the Carmichael Village housing subdivision for which an initial $20m loan financing was obtained from Jamaican sources. The Tribune has previously revealed how Mr Gardiner, who is now in custody after being charged with involvement in a long-running conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the US, confirmed in a sworn affidavit that he was Top Notch’s president and director on February 13, 2017 - although he denied owning shares, or having any beneficial interest, in the company. Multiple sources, speaking on condition
CONNECTION - See Page B5 “International investors like to invest in a jurisdiction that is tax stable. As that relates to real estate, it will mean keeping the current VAT transfer tax structure the same, which already benefits Bahamian buyers below $1m over international buyers who pay 10 percent regardless
PURCHASE - See Page B5