GE Go EleutheraThe island, end to end
Mike Olson — licensed real estate agent in South Carolina, brokered by eXp Realty 170 Meeting Street, Suite 304, Charleston, SC 29401843-442-7992 Not a Bahamian brokerage — introductions only. We do not list, price, negotiate or hold funds in The Bahamas.
St George’s Cay · and Russell Island over the bridge

Spanish Wells
real estate

The lobster capital of The Bahamas, a working fishing town of around 1,500 people, and quietly one of the strongest small markets in the country.

Spanish Wells is the settlement on St George’s Cay, off the northern tip of Eleuthera — about two miles long and half a mile wide. It is tidy, prosperous and genuinely a working town rather than a resort one. Russell Island, just over three miles long, is joined to it by a bridge and has become the growth end: cottages, family homes, waterfront with private docks.

Buying here

Spanish Wells itself is tight, established and rarely cheap. Russell Island is where new building has gone, and where waterfront with dockage is still findable. Rental demand is real here because of the fishing and the diving, which means a purchase you intend to let needs the permit route — plan for it rather than discovering it.

Which government route

Same test as everywhere else, and on a working island most of it falls on the registration side: an owner-occupied house or condo on under two adjoining acres is registered after closing. Russell Island is where you are most likely to meet the two-acre line, and rental intent puts you on the permit route regardless.

Getting there

Fly into North Eleuthera (ELH) and take the ferry across to St George’s Cay — a short crossing, and the service is frequent because the town runs on it. Russell Island is joined to Spanish Wells by a bridge, so once you are across you can drive between the two.

Watch for

This is a close community with its own way of doing things. Buying well here is much more about who introduces you than about what is listed.

Asked and answered

The questions people actually type.

White sandbar and treeline at St George's Cay, Spanish Wells
St George's Cay, Spanish Wells, 1989.Rüdiger Stehn · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source

Where is Spanish Wells, exactly?

On St George’s Cay, off the northern tip of Eleuthera — about two miles long and half a mile wide. Russell Island, just over three miles long, is joined to it by a bridge and is where most new building has gone.

Can a foreigner buy in Spanish Wells?

Yes, freehold, on the same terms as anywhere in The Bahamas. The practical constraint is not the law — it is that this is a close, prosperous working community and buying well here has more to do with who introduces you than with what is publicly listed.

Is it a resort island?

No, and that is the point. It is the lobster capital of The Bahamas, a working fishing town of around 1,500 people, tidy and prosperous in a way that has nothing to do with tourism.

What about Russell Island?

Russell Island is the growth end: cottages, family homes and waterfront with private docks, reached over the bridge. If you want waterfront with dockage that is still findable, that is where to look.

The rest of it

The tax, the two 180-day clocks, exchange control, title in an unregistered land country, and a calculator that does your closing costs — all on the buying guide, sourced and dated. Own something on Spanish Wells already? Selling and free listings have their own page.

Direct · in confidencemike@mikeolsonre.com

How this desk is paid, in full

You are never charged

Not for the introduction, not for the guide, not for anything on this site. If a purchase or a sale completes, the receiving Bahamian brokerage may pay a referral fee out of its own commission. That does not change the price of the property and it does not come out of your pocket.

Capped at 25%

Under the bilateral agreement between the National Association of Realtors and the Bahamas Real Estate Association, a foreign agent may refer business to a BREA-licensed broker or salesman and receive a referral fee of up to 25%. That is the ceiling and we do not go near arrangements outside it.

Brokerage to brokerage

The fee is paid by the Bahamian brokerage to eXp Realty, not agent to agent, and reaches the agent through their commission agreement. It is documented by an executed referral agreement before anything moves.

What we are not

We are not a licensed Bahamian brokerage and we do not practise real estate in The Bahamas — doing so without a BREA licence is an offence under the Real Estate (Brokers and Salesmen) Act 1995. We introduce you to someone who is licensed, by name. Your own Bahamian attorney handles the conveyance and the opinion on title.

Nothing on this site is legal, tax or investment advice. Figures are checked against government, regulator and Bahamian law-firm sources and dated; rates move at budget, so have them confirmed in writing before you rely on them. If you would rather no referral fee were involved at all, say so in your message and the introduction is made anyway.