For the construction guild, in El Salvador it is essential to improve the financing conditions offered by banks to give greater impetus to the construction of low-cost housing.
In December of last year, the Salvadoran Chamber of the Construction Industry (Casalco) announced that they were preparing a law proposal, which contemplated the approval of preferential interest rates on loans for home purchases.
The builders' guild in El Salvador is preparing a law proposal, which provides for the approval of preferential interest rates on loans for home purchases.
The proposal to be presented by the Salvadoran Chamber of Construction Industry (CASALCO) will be applicable for bank loans to low- and middle-income families who purchase their first home.
The builders' association has reported that 6.4 million square meters were processed in 2017, 13% less than in 2016.
In a statement from the Costa Rican Chamber of Construction (CCC), the president of the organization, Jorge Arturo González, said that "... 'this slowdown highlights the need to boost private sector investment in construction, which has stopped not only because of political uncertainty, typical of an election year, but also due to excessive procedures, high financing costs, legal uncertainty, low competitiveness in infrastructure and high construction costs, among other things'."Seereport by the CCC (in Spanish).
The construction industry registered a decrease of 10%, due, according to data from the Central Bank, to less bank financing and to an excess of bureaucratic procedures.
The trend cycleseries of the quarterly indicator of meters built decreased 10.3% in the fourth quarter of 2017, which is due to less construction of non-residential and residential buildings (-5.1%, -15.1%, in the same order).
Between January and May this year $97 million was awarded in loans for housing construction, 17% more than in the same period in 2015.
The monthly report from the Salvadoran Chamber of Construction (Casalco) indicates that loans granted for home purchases rose by less than 1% in the period in question, going from $133.9 million to $134 million.
A trade show for the construction industry will be held from From June 1 to 4 in Tegucigalpa, featuring conferences and products exhibitions by companies in the sector.
The event Expoconstruye 2016 will be held at the Plaza Juan Carlos, in the Honduran capital, and will include the participation of construction and real estate companies, banks and other bodies linked to the sector.
Annual growth registered in the last quarter of 2014 reflected an increase of in completed construction areas, mainly industrial, commercial, residential and service works buildings.
From a report issued by the Central Bank of Nicaragua "Performance of private construction":
Overall results of activity in completed construction areas
In the fourth quarter, completed construction areas recorded 38.5% growth (- 16.1% in 2013.
While in the US the number of man hours needed to build a house is 9.4 hours per square meter, in Costa Rica it takes between 40 and 60.
Low labor productivity, on top of the cost of building materials, social charges and high costs of other materials such as energy, are preventing firms from being more competitive in an industry where both end house prices for completed works and gray works, exceed those in neighboring countries.
The construction guild is proposing that in tenders for construction of public works a clause on price adjustments always be included, to reflect changes in prices of raw materials.
The Nicaraguan Chamber of Construction (CNC) argues that with the drop in fuel prices, some public works projects are being tendered with prices which were established in relation to this situation, but fear that within one or two years these costs may rise once again and that would impact the construction.
Construction companies are negotiating with the banking system for access to preferential interest rates in order to finance housing projects for lower-income sectors.
In order to alleviate the poor performance that construction sector has seen in recent months, construction companies plan to focusing on developing high rise housing projects, which, in the view of the entrepreneur Ernesto Lazarus, "...
Lack of private sector confidence in the government and excessive bureaucracy prevented greater investments being made in this industry during 2013.
The construction industry describes 2013 as a year of stagnation, it is estimated that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the sector will be 0% even though the previous year it closed at -2.4%. "We are closing the year without any growth," said Carlos Guerrero, president of the Salvadoran Chamber of the Construction Industry (Casalco).
The Costa Rican Congress is looking at a law for funding homes valued at less than $150 thousand, for families whose incomes are not above $4000.
This plan "... seeks to provide a housing solution through loans to be granted by public banking entities, mutuals and private banks to enable people to get credit and buy a plot of land, a house or to build on their own lot," noted an article in Elfinancierocr.com.
Costa Rica's Congress has approved a bill that seeks to exempt deposits used to finance long term housing loans from requiring a minimum legal reserved amount.
From a press release by the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica:
The plenary legislature passed on its second and final debate with the support of 23 MPs bill number 17809, addition to Law No. 7558, the Law on the Central Bank of Costa Rica, to exempt from requiring minimum reserve amounts, deposits and revenues used to finance long term housing loans .
The real estate industry complains that lack of credit and interest rates that increased from 10% to 21% are preventing housing construction in the country.
According to Andres Salinas, an executive in the real estate sector, when the Honduran Bank for Production and Housing (Banhprovi), gave out loans at rates of 10%, the fees paid by buyers were smaller, but now "there are no funds and banks are granting some at 18.5% and others at up to 21%, there is no capacity," he said.