Whilst government officials were keen to fanfare the progress of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida (”My House, My Life”) programme this week – representatives of Brazil´s real estate sector at a public-private gathering in São Paulo took the opportunity to speak out against the realities of the initiative, with calls for the authorities to raise the maximum price limit once again (a request that was subsequently declined by Inês Magalhães, secretary of Brazil´s housing ministry).
The Brazilian Association of eal Estate Credit and Savings (Associação Brasileira de Crédito Imobiliário e Poupança, ABECIP) recently published lending statistics for 2011 as well as its expectations for 2012.
January 27th, 2012 by
Ruban Selvanayagam
1 Comment
The last week of January 2012 saw the mass eviction of thousands of families residing in favelas (slums) in the Pinheirinho district of São José dos Campos, São Paulo state. Behind a smokescreen of bringing “security” as a result of the resistance, the heavy handedness of Brazil’s military police was well documented and can be viewed all over news sites and YouTube with residents being forcibly removed using tear gas bombs and rubber bullets in addition to regular beatings, police brutality and little opportunity to collect belongings prior to the swift commencement of demolitions – leaving huge senses of loss, irrationality and injustice.
Two press clippings (extracted in December 2011 from Brazil´s Folha newspaper) that demonstrate how the rapid growth of property prices in Brazil has filtered through to the country’s favela communities – with rental figures that are very arguably beyond feasible affordability levels of the country´s low income groups. Due to the existence of very few other housing options, most residents do not have any choice but to pay such sums for what are plainly appalling and sub-humane living conditions.
January 2012 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 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.
a short news bulletin via Paraná state TV which demonstrates the bad workmanship and other related issues on a donated social housing project under the Minha Casa, Minha Vida (MCMV) (“My House, My Life”) initiative in Cascavel, Paraná as well as commentary with regards to analysis undertaking on unit costs.
The administrators of the social housing programme Minha Casa, Minha Vida (“My House, My Life”) have announced that the construction of 6,940 houses in Salvador (Bahia) has been stopped due to a reported “absence of liquidity” of the two construction companies involved. In the first week of January, executive director of the Caixa Econômica Federal Teotônio Rezende visited the project to examine what steps could be taken – but the issues have been well known since September 2011.
The Época magazine released a new year edition which, amongst analysis of the economic performance of 2011, asked a number of prominent business leaders about their thoughts and expectations for the coming year. Please see translations of some of the statements made below – namely Robert Setubal (Itaú Unibanco), Luiz Carlos Trabuci Cappi (Bradesco), José Sergio Gabrielli (Petrobras), Eike Batista (EBX Group), José Antonio Grabowsky (PDG Realty), André Gerdau (Gerdau), Otávio Azevedo (Andrade Gutierrez) and Enéas Pestana (Pão de Açúcar).
A survey of members of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) has placed the Brazilian real estate market in second place in terms of attractiveness in 2012 – above China and all countries within Europe. São Paulo was also indicated as the fourth most attractive metropolitan region (after New York, London and Washington) – moving up from 26th position in 2011.
With rising pressures in dealing with Brazil’s massive affordable housing deficit as a result of the impending 2012 municipality elections, the government has affirmed its commitment to continue with the R$ 22.9 billion Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My House) programme after the slow pace of its development in 2011.
