“The Minha Casa, Minha Vida (“My House, My Life”) programme is already experiencing a number of problems. One example has been a large amount of fraudulent activity under the initiative, particularly with unscrupulous construction companies marketing that their units can be incorporated when, in fact, the criteria of the Caixa Econômica Federal is not being satisfied. But the main problem is that the programme has generated a property bubble in the low cost housing sector bringing issues related to viability. The companies involved in the sector now want the government to further increase price limits – yet clearly, if this happens, the values of these properties will be pushed higher which will not work out well.” – Fábio Portela, Pequeno Investidor (“Small Investor”)
A public audit undertaken by the General Union Controller (Controladoria Geral da União, CGU) of signed popular housing contracts between 2004 and April 2011 under the command of the Brazilian Housing Secretariat (Secretaria Nacional de Habitação, SNH) / Ministry of Cities (Ministério das Cidades) recently pointed to a noticeably high number of delayed, paralysed and non-started projects throughout the country.
February 3rd, 2012 by
Ruban Selvanayagam
1 Comment
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).
January 30th, 2012 by
Ruban Selvanayagam
1 Comment
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.
January 25th, 2012 by
Ruban Selvanayagam
1 Comment
As 2012 will mark the 5th year anniversary of the launch of the Brazilian government led Growth Acceleration Programme (Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento, PAC), specialists speaking to Brazil’s “IG Economia” newspaper recently expressed their concerns related to the low economic growth directly related to the various infrastructure projects happening around the country.
January 24th, 2012 by
Ruban Selvanayagam
2 Comments
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.
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.
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.
