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Govt must focus on people who can’t afford their own homes

Shadow Housing Minister Michael Fahy called for Government to concentrate more on housing people who can’t afford their own properties, as the debate over the soaring price of a Loughlands home continues.The $570,000 sale of the two-bedroom condo on the Paget development, three years after it was bought for $450,000, has led to claims first-time buyers are missing out on a leg up.Senator Fahy said the One Bermuda Alliance supports the initiative which he says gives people a chance to get on the first rung of the property ladder. However, he said when the homes are being resold, they should once more go to first-time homeowners.And he said a chunk of any profits should be given back to Bermuda Housing, which could put the money towards creating an emergency housing complex.The Royal Gazette reported on Monday that the OBA believes the market is open to manipulation by “flipping”, which allows people to quickly sell their property at a profit.But Sen Fahy said: “The OBA was not concerned about flipping. Our concerns lay with the fact that when first-time owners who purchased at Loughlands are selling that there is apparently no restriction on who they can sell to.“We believe such properties should be sold to first-time homeowners so that another person is given an opportunity to buy affordable housing. In the alternative, there could have been provisions for a percentage of profits from any sale to be given to the BHC to reinvest in a purpose built emergency housing complex.”Sen Fahy said he believes a shortage of funds means BHC isn’t able to repurchase the Loughlands units as was initially planned.“When people were originally selected to purchase, subject to financing from a local bank, some of which were offering 95 percent mortgages, the deal was that if you decided to sell within a ten-year period, the BHC had the option to buy the property back based on a defined schedule of seven percent increase per annum,” he said.“I am advised that the BHC is unable to repurchase the Loughlands units back from the buyers because the BHC doesn’t have the money in its budget to buy them, which is why these units are now on the open market, without restrictions.“This is cause of concern, since there is seemingly now an ability for people to buy a Loughlands property who are not first-time homeowners, thereby restricting the numbers who might have had a step up.“Given that there are at least a couple of units on the open market, it begs the question about the related development on South Shore and whether these will have interested parties.“Before commencing any further projects, we think the Government should take stock of what housing stock is available and concentrate more on housing people who cannot afford affordable housing.”