The total value of commercial properties for sale on the island will double in the first half of 2025, a prominent real estate broker has predicted.

Brian Madeiros, president and chief executive of Coldwell Banker Bermuda Realty, said: “Our market intelligence suggests that there is currently approximately $100 million of commercial property on the market for sale as we move into 2025, and we predict this number to rise to a staggering $200 million by mid-2025 as a result of new commercial listings being introduced to the market for sale.”

Mr Madeiros said: “Although the commercial property market is relatively small comparatively speaking in terms of annual transactional sales volume, it is a critical component of our economy and just as importantly, is a key economic indicator for the private sector and for Government policymakers.”

The veteran realtor added: “Our commercial team were incredibly active in the commercial sales market in 2024, successfully closing approximately $10 million of commercial property during the last two quarters of 2024.

“The latter part of the year kept our commercial team very busy onboarding new commercial property listings which are now actively on the market for sale. The total sales volume of these newly introduced commercial properties equates to over $25 million.”

Twenty-two commercial properties are listed for sale on the Property Skipper website.

Six of those properties are listed by Coldwell Banker Bermuda Realty, including The Walker Arcade and The Calypso Building, which are listed for sale at $9.9 million.

Mr Madeiros said just over 60 per cent of the inventory now for sale is office or mixed office use, much of which is dated or has exceeded its useful economic life.

“The challenge for property owners is some are getting older and wish to monetise their assets, property is surplus to operational requirements in some instances and age and obsolescence has become a notable factor.

“However, these challenges create an opportunity to assess potential redevelopment of existing property which may involve repurposing the original use.

“Evidence of this is clearly obvious as one drives through the City of Hamilton. The proliferation of cranes, construction equipment and recently demolished commercial buildings is a catalyst to inject further creativity into a city which needs to continue to evolve and remain relevant in a very globally competitive environment.

“It’s comforting to see that city developers have confidence in several different asset classes and end users, including traditional office, residential schemes, hospitality and medical facilities.

“Behind the scenes, the number of development consultations which our team have been having with architects, developers and investors have been on the rise since early 2024.

“The lead time for these larger redevelopments is quite protracted and we anticipate this new inventory to receive completion certificates in 2026-27.”

Mr Madeiros added: “Compared with the immediate post-pandemic period our commercial team are assisting more small and medium-sized local businesses look for new property which would allow them to upsize their offerings through growth and diversification.

“Demand will continue to be robust for market priced stand alone property up to $1.5 million either within or on the outskirts of the city.

“Similarly, we anticipate that demand for owner occupation within the industrial and warehouse market segments will remain strong in 2025 and demand will continue to outstrip supply for newly built, environmentally controlled, container truck access properties.

“If recent architect and developer enquiries are anything to go by, we suspect we will be seeing more planning applications for change of use from hybrid office and retail property to residential units, which will provide much needed new supply in what is a very tight residential market.”

At Keller Williams Bermuda, Belcario and Natasha Thomas are “Team Thomas”.

The agency has four commercial properties listed for sale on the Property Skipper website.

Team Thomas said the number of commercial property sales listings on Property Skipper is down from the 43 listed at the end of 2021, which they attribute to uncertainty owing to Covid.

At present, Team Thomas said: “We are experiencing international interest for large office buildings … strong demand for almost all types of industrial by local service companies seeking warehouse space or sites for industrial uses like garage space.”

They said there is low demand for retail space due to there being more internet-based businesses.

They added: “Confidence from business has resulted in a city increasingly full of ‘cranes in the sky’ with local development at the Ingham & Wilkinson Building at 129 Front Street, and international investment via Brookfield at 91 Front Street, and the repurposing of Victoria Hall.”

They said further investments are being made with the demolition and redevelopment of the Belvedere Building on Pitts Bay Road in Pembroke and the former Bluck’s site on Front Street in Hamilton.

They said other serious developments and upgrades included KWB’s offices on Berry Hill Road in Devonshire.

Team Thomas added: “Tourism zoned property demand appears to be increasing with large well-known sales/developments, meanwhile smaller licensed hotel products such as Valley Cottages Hotel in Paget, fractionals at Tucker’s & Newstead and lots of land, including Lantana, are causing renewed interest kicking off 2025.”

They said trends this year will include “continued repurposing and redevelopment of some of the older commercial buildings in Hamilton.

“Tenants and companies newly domiciling in Bermuda have a strong preference for A grade office space.”

Team Thomas also predicted a trend towards smaller office spaces, saying that economic substance rules have created demand for such spaces.

They added: “The new city plan will give both the planning department and developers greater flexibility for repurposing and redevelopment.”

Hopefully, they said, the new plan will reduce some of the “red tape’ for developers, which Team Thomas said is a common concern.

“Generally, further clarity for the market on what can happen, when and how is more useful than not.

“We are experiencing increasing local/international investor requests … [and are] envisioning banks customising and improving mortgage financing and property renovation related products.”