A planned luxury housing development has sold seven of its 18 high-end lots at the waterside site, it was revealed yesterday.

Walter Roban, the Minister of Home Affairs, said reports of the sales at Riddell’s Bay, a former Warwick golf club that closed its doors in 2016, was “very good news”.

He added house plans were already being drafted by architects on three of the lots.

Mr Roban said the market value for each lot ranged from $2 to $3 million, and that the sales were a “significant expenditure upfront”.

The development at Riddell’s Bay, which was the island’s oldest golf course, was backed by the Progressive Labour Party government, although opposition came from former members of the club.

The club shut its doors because its managers could no longer meet the high cost of operation.

Mr Roban said a rise in planning department searches was “a very strong indication” that interest in real estate was on the rise around Bermuda.

He said 542 building permits had been issued by the Department of Planning since March.

The Development Applications Board has also been able to delegate responsibilities to the Director of Planning, which cut the number of cases that had to be seen by the DAB by 80 per cent.

Mr Roban added that house construction and other work at Riddell’s Bay would bring needed construction jobs.

A spokesman for Castile Holdings, which owns the 87-acre site, said yesterday that half the lots had not yet been released for sale to allow “a significant amount of conservation work” to continue on the rest of the property.

He added all the sales so far had been to Bermudian buyers.

He said: “It underscores the willingness of people to invest in the island. A lot of people are willing to deploy capital.

“A couple of people have recently received their Bermuda status, which to me shows the amount of people who are waiting to get clarity so that they can commit to Bermuda.”

Opponents to the special development order for the site, approved by Parliament earlier this year, objected to the rezoning of the open space.

But the Castile spokesman said there had been extensive work at the site to preserve green spaces.

The development proposal submitted to the Department of Planning last year pledged to leave the centre of the property undeveloped.

The plans involved 14 acres of open space, 12 acres of woodland, 18 acres of nature reserve, and 22 acres set aside for recreational use

The Castile spokesman said: “There have been more than 2,000 trees planted over the last few months. Every day they are unloading trucks of trees and plants from nurseries.”

He said he expected the remaining lots at Riddell’s Bay to be sold “within the next 12 months”.