Some Q&A´s with Ana Maria Castelo, economist and project coordinator for real estate construction statistics at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) – one of Brazil´s leading universities and research institutions. Ana Maria has long been well-recognised as always providing reputable insights into the market, regularly featuring in the national media on a wide range of issues related to Brazil´s housing and infrastructure.
The director of the habitation department at the Brazilian Cities Ministry Maria do Carmo Avesani has recently stated her disagreement with the horizontal housing developments targeted at the 1-3 minimum salary level (between R$ 545 – R$ 1,635). Her issues were directed at the fact that the demographic are not able to afford the necessary costs of maintenance of the infrastructural facilities and common areas leading to many such condominiums falling into bad states. Furthermore, the local prefectures were not assuming responsibility in managing the issues due to the units being located on private land.
Lopes – Brazil’s largest estate agency group – has recently stated that it will be gearing up its presence in the second hand home sales market, a segment which the company previously viewed as ‘marginal’ according to vice-president Marcello Leone in the Exame magazine.
Please see the September 2011 statistics and graphs (released mid-month) with information related to Brazil’s real estate and land industry by clicking on the link above – including the new property price variation index, OECD composite leading indicators, inflation statistics, the SELIC interest rate, housing / private / commercial sector lending, percentage changes in construction costs, consumer spending levels, consumer / industrial / business confidence, real earnings and unemployment.
The São Paulo Housing Syndicate (Secovi-SP) has recently announced the cancellation of their annual real estate exhibition due to what they stated was a ‘lack of supply of stock to publically demonstrate’.
Research undertaken by the Construction Industry Syndicate of São Paulo (Sinduscon-SP) and the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) has demonstrated a 7.6 percent drop with regards to positive perceptions related to sector growth when comparing August 2011 with the same month in 2010.
With a common belief across the Brazil property industry that the rapid price rises witnessed over the last couple of years are calming down, several experts – speaking to the Estadão newspaper – are pointing to more favourable conditions to negotiate discounts off open market values.
The Rio de Janeiro Council of Real Estate Brokers (CRECI-RJ) has recently indicated that the number of transactions undertaken by overseas buyers – particularly from the USA, France and Italy – has increased by 30 percent in the last 6 months.
As many signs are pointing to a period of stabilisation in the Brazilian real estate market, buying at auction has become an increasingly popular strategy. A feature article in Brazil’s Exame magazine pointed to the growth of mortgage commitments defaults and the subsequent strict nature of the Brazilian banking system bringing rising numbers of auction property to the market.
An article entitled ‘Dilma’s New Broom’ in the Financial Times has praised the Brazilian President on her attitude to corruption within the country’s political system. Since her election in January 2011 a number of prominent exits have come to the forefront largely via media investigations and inter-governmental whistle blowing…
