The number of homes to rent has doubled in the last two years, but is still at a critical level, a real estate executive told The Royal Gazette this week.

“In 2023 there were about 40 places to rent,” said Rego Sotheby’s International Realty agency manager Ben Rego. “Now it touches 80. We are still in a housing crisis, though. Many years ago, the number was over 200.”

New developments such as the recently opened Bermudiana Beach Residences have brought 94 new units online.

The real estate agent admitted that the price point for the new properties is not always “locally welcoming”, but said they lessened competition for lower-priced rentals, where locals were consistently outbid in the past.

“While the overall reality is that we are still in a major housing crisis for available rental inventory, these levels are indeed rising, and so while many are struggling to find accommodation, there has been improvement,” Mr Rego said.

He attributed the uptick partly to landlords feeling more confident about renting their properties right now, given the still very low rental inventory.

Last year, bidding wars between agents were common even over properties not in particularly good condition. This battle has calmed, somewhat, particularly in the higher and middle price ranges.

“The competition is still exceptionally high for smaller units with low price points,” Mr Rego said. “That leaves many who are needing to move feeling a sense of desperation.”

Some construction industry insiders are worried that tariffs introduced by United States President Donald Trump last week, will push up the price of construction materials, making building new homes untenable.

Mr Rego was closely monitoring the situation.

“Everyone is very concerned,” he said, “but it is still too early to make any predictions.”