Despite the damage inflicted by Hurricane Dorian, investment dollars continue to flow into the Atlantic Ocean archipelago.

The luxury market — homes starting at $5 million in American or Bahamian dollars (the Bahamian dollar is kept at a one-to-one exchange rate with the American dollar) — “is where most of the growth is happening,” he said.

Sotheby’s saw transactions from $500,000 to $5 million drop “marginally from 2018 to 2019,” said Nick Damianos, the chief executive and managing broker of Damianos Sotheby’s International Realty, but “the number of transactions at $5 million or more increased threefold.” The average sales price in that market has climbed 14 percent since 2014, he said, with an average 8 percent year-over-year increase in transactions during that period.

"The Bahamas is no longer just a vacation destination," he said. "Many wealthy international individuals are now choosing to make the Bahamas their primary residence."

Mr. Christie noted a slight increase in the past 18 months in the luxury condo market, which is attracting buyers from New York seeking relief from the cold in a "direct flight destination", with units on average $ 800 to $ 1,500 per square foot.

Inventories are tight in the New Providence market, said Paul Carey, founder and broker of Realty Team Bahamas. In the wake of Dorian, "a lot of people from Freeport and Abaco have moved here," he said. “It's more of a seller's market, especially under $ 500,000. It's hard to find anything for $ 350,000 to $ 375,000. The same goes for rentals under $ 3,000 a month, said Damianos.

New resort hotels, like the high-end Baha Mar on Cable Beach, offer fully furnished turnkey residences (in Baha Mar’s case, starting at $726,500) that can be put in a rental pool when not being used.

“This is the season for second-home buyers,” said Christine Wallace-Whitfield, a senior broker at the Bahamas agency Island Living Real Estate and the president of the Bahamas Real Estate Association. “We’ve seen a steady flow, particularly in Nassau, New Providence and Paradise Island, the sought-after islands, along with Eleuthera, Bimini and the Exumas.”

Who buys in the Bahamas?

Most buyers in the Bahamas come from Britain, Western Europe, Canada, the United States and, more recently, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Toronto, France and Switzerland. said Mr. Damianos.

In general, he added, American buyers "use the properties as vacation homes, while European buyers spend most of the year."

“We have a lot of foreign investors coming in,” said Paul Carey the founder and a broker at Realty Team Bahamas. “They are buying the high-end stuff.”

Many buyers, he said, block off weeks or weekends to use the house and then rent it in between for a “minimum $2,000 a night.”

The Bahamas has a bright future ahead of it, and is not likely to experience a decline in the real estate market. Everything suggests that it is even rather wise to invest on an island paradise ...