Manpower shortage?
- Thread starter andynap
- Start date
Hilton Head Island has been experiencing this for awhile to the point that some of the restaurants have changed hours, even eliminating a day totally. Affordable housing is difficult to find on the island. Our town of Bluffton has grown so much in our 13 yrs here, with new construction once again booming, that many people who need work, take jobs in our town instead of the longer commute along the highway & over the one bridge to HHI. A sad situation when this happens near, meaning here & far meaning St Barths. I don't have the answer, apparently SBH & HHI don't either.
cassidain
Senior Insider
there are frankly a couple of areas of the island that seem not very well suited to high-end tourism and where one would suppose property values less than astronomical. one would think that an enterprising somebody might well develop worker-level multi-family housing in those areas.
Cass . . . your supposition would fit in many circumstances, but doesn’t really match conditions on the island. I’ve done income / expense analyses of building “multifamily” housing (single family housing is more expensive) on the island & haven’t found land at a price that “pencils out,” considering acquisition / construction / development costs, to a minimally economic use of funds. A workable model, I believe, will require “community development” support . . . i.e., in some significant part, financial assistance in the form of subsidies &/or other incentives. Such assistance might come from employers . . . but more likely will require government action. Right now, I don’t see that happening very soon.
This might not be exactly the same problem but its solution might be similar: a friend of mine who is a builder in Los Cabos, Mexico, took the initiative, due to the rising crime problem there, to have housing built for a large contingent of law enforcement officers, and the crime situation has measurably improved. The solution was not with the government; it was with the business owners who paid for the housing themselves. I had also read an article about it in a newspaper on line. I realize SBH is not Cabo, does not have the same amount of land or large business owners, but maybe there could be a public/private cooperative effort? Just an idea.
stbartshopper
Senior Insider
I believe Eden Rock and maybe several other Hotels? own and supply places to live for their employees on the island? It seems that this might be the only way with which to have a dependable team of people.
fins85258
Senior Insider
A selection of properties offered for sale in St Barts
It would seem that the long established families and residentsof the island are now the victims of their own creation. When you see parcels of +/- 10,000 sf from$1 million or more it’s never going to work out unless you can get far largerparcels with an allowable density 20 to 30 units per acre. At that rate a 10 acre property could cost$40M / 300 units = $133,333/ unit in land. Factor in the construction cost of a750 sf 2 bedroom @ $75.oo/sf = $56,250/ unit and you have $190,000 / unit. Apartment unit development costs on a perunit basis in the US is between $65,000 - $85,000 / unit with rents of $600 -$1200 / month. Now someone tell me whata service employee or shop employee earns per month and what they can afford to pay for rent at their salary level.
https://www.sibarthrealestate.com/sibarthrealestate/view/mainsearch?field_propertyterms_tid=22&field_pricerangeterms_tid=All&field_bedroomsterms_tid=All&field_sibarthareaterms_tid=All
http://remax-stbarths.com/?s=&post_type=realestate&bedrooms=any&type=land&location=any&max_price=any
https://www.wimco.com/villas/villasalessearch.aspx?br=0&pt=3
http://www.icietlavillas.com/search/sale/st-barts?search%5Bsort_by%5D=price&search%5Bsort_order%5D=descending&search%5Bestate_kind%5D=terrain&search%5Bdestination_id%5D=9&search%5Bmatch%5D=&search%5Bmin_price%5D=&search%5Bmax_price%5D=&search%5Bprice_currency%5D=USD&search%5Bmin_price%5D=&search%5Bmax_price%5D=&search%5Bprice_currency%5D=EUR&search%5Bsearch_kind%5D=sale
It would seem that the long established families and residentsof the island are now the victims of their own creation. When you see parcels of +/- 10,000 sf from$1 million or more it’s never going to work out unless you can get far largerparcels with an allowable density 20 to 30 units per acre. At that rate a 10 acre property could cost$40M / 300 units = $133,333/ unit in land. Factor in the construction cost of a750 sf 2 bedroom @ $75.oo/sf = $56,250/ unit and you have $190,000 / unit. Apartment unit development costs on a perunit basis in the US is between $65,000 - $85,000 / unit with rents of $600 -$1200 / month. Now someone tell me whata service employee or shop employee earns per month and what they can afford to pay for rent at their salary level.
https://www.sibarthrealestate.com/sibarthrealestate/view/mainsearch?field_propertyterms_tid=22&field_pricerangeterms_tid=All&field_bedroomsterms_tid=All&field_sibarthareaterms_tid=All
http://remax-stbarths.com/?s=&post_type=realestate&bedrooms=any&type=land&location=any&max_price=any
https://www.wimco.com/villas/villasalessearch.aspx?br=0&pt=3
http://www.icietlavillas.com/search/sale/st-barts?search%5Bsort_by%5D=price&search%5Bsort_order%5D=descending&search%5Bestate_kind%5D=terrain&search%5Bdestination_id%5D=9&search%5Bmatch%5D=&search%5Bmin_price%5D=&search%5Bmax_price%5D=&search%5Bprice_currency%5D=USD&search%5Bmin_price%5D=&search%5Bmax_price%5D=&search%5Bprice_currency%5D=EUR&search%5Bsearch_kind%5D=sale
KevinS
Senior Insider
The Collectivité buys land from time to time. They recently purchased a piece of land near the stadium in St Jean, to be used for a new school.
cassidain
Senior Insider
they own all the beaches :laughing-cry:
fins85258
Senior Insider
cassidain
Senior Insider
Eric le Corbeau is a fellow traveler with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
fins85258
Senior Insider
cassidain
Senior Insider
don't really want to go further down the ideological path . . . as such is verboten on these pages. :angel1:
elgreaux
Senior Insider
I think your calculations are off for SBH. In most places on the island you can only build on 20% of a given piece of land. Also the average price to build anything is about 4000 euros per square meter so a 100 sq meter house would cost 400,000 euros give or take on quality of what you put in it, and everything has to be seismic and hurricane proof.... and if a new rental property it now must be handicapped access with double wide parking for van/wheelchair access.
