Have long-term rental rates in Barbados gone up in 2020?

In 2020 Barbados, to counter the downturn of tourism traffic due to the Covid 19 pandemic, Barbados introduced the ‘Welcome Stamp’ – a 12 month, ‘work from home’ visa pass for overseas nationals to move to Barbados and work remotely. This allowed a steady, and welcome, stream of overseas visitors to extend their stay and bring in much needed foreign exchange to the island.

 

It also saw properties that were traditionally short-term rentals move to the long-term rental market.

 

Through an examination of historic data we can have a look at what effect this has had on the long-term rental marketplace. 

 

The data shows a discernible uptick for 2020 compared to 2019. 1 bedrooms are 43% more expensive, 2 bedrooms 47% more expensive, 3 bedrooms, 26% more and 4 bedrooms 12%.

 

Looking further into the data, we can examine the change by parish.

 

Again, we see an increase across the board for pricing. Christchurch sees a 16% increase, St James a 28% increase, St Michael an 8% increase, St Peter 12%, St Philip 72% (St Philip had a small number of properties listed so larger changes may be seen in the data), St Thomas 32%.

 

Has demand increased? See below...