Bermuda’s real estate market is the hottest it has been in 20 years, a top realtor said.

The largest real estate agency has 40 properties in, or about to go in contract, for sales representing about $100 million.

Since the start of the year, nearly half of the purchasers, or anticipated purchasers, are cash buyers.

Susan Thompson, the agency manager at Coldwell Banker Bermuda Realty, who retires this year, does however, believe Bermuda is well behind on longstanding issues that will continue to plague the market.

Those issues include the long periods taken to settle the affairs of a deceased person.

The Real Estate Division of the Chamber of Commerce has continued meetings with government officials about the length of time that probate is taking, but also on issues relating to the Land Title Registry and the need to update the Landlord and Tenant Act.

Ms Thompson said: “The ministers have been very receptive and are working on solutions.”

She also applauded the Government for the first-time homebuyer exemption for stamp duty that has assisted many purchasers with an advantage that helped them become homeowners.

More than one third of the recent deals have involved first-time home buyers. Many of the properties being sold are for more than $1 million.

“The market has come back unbelievably right now — it is definitely a seller’s market,” Ms Thompson declared. “If you price your property right, you’ll have multiple offers on it.

“Condominiums used to be tough to sell. I remember trying to get people to purchase condos in the $250,000 to $300,000 range, and struggling [to convince them].

“Now condos on average are more than $700,000. We don’t have any problems selling condominiums any more.”

She said there were very few permanent resident’s certificate holders purchasing, as the majority were full British Overseas Territories citizens.

Ms Thompson stated: “We are seeing the strongest market since 2005-2006. This started with the pandemic and has only continued to grow. We are experiencing a lack of inventory in both sales and rentals.”

She said: “The commercial market both for rentals and sales have been extremely active over the past two years. Our ‘commercial guru’, Graham Smith is having his best fiscal year in his 25 years with CBBR.

“In the mid-1990s, when I started, people would ask me to give a price for a property off the top of my head and if I said the home was worth a million dollars, they would want comparisons to back it up.

“I had to stop saying that many years ago as many of the properties we sell are over a million dollars.”