Through a trust the government will provide financing for the purchase of middle class housing, in local currency and at a rate of 8.7%.
From a statement issued by Coalianza:
Tegucigalpa, April 9. With an amount of 600 million lempiras (around $25 million) and to benefit 2,000 Honduran families, the government today announced a trust that will have a special focus on guaranteeing access to housing for the middle class.
This year in Panama realtors expect to sell 9,000 homes and generate $1.146 billion, which would be a 34% increase compared to the value sold last year.
The National Council of Housing Promoters (Convivienda) plans to sell 8,958 units of housing nationwide this year, after having sold 7,219 units last year.
The construction trade union intends to sell around 6,000 homes in 2018, a figure which is 20% higher than the amount of units sold in 2017.
For the construction sector, the year starts with the Expo-Casa fair that will be held in February, 60 urban projects will be included in the event and it is expected that 250 houses will be sold.Representatives from the Chamber of Developers of Nicaragua (Cadur) estimate that during Expo-House around $10 million worth of mortgages will be sold, and for the sales projections of 2018 the amount of the credit could reach $170 million.
The construction sector proposes extending the conditions of social housing loans to a larger segment of the population, in order to promote the sale of houses with prices of between $30 thousand and $50 thousand.
The association of developers is proposing that the interest rate benefit of 2.5% and the exemption from the registration costs that are currently granted to those who purchase social housing worth up to $23 thousand, be extended to more expensive homes, worth up to $50 thousand.
The housing deficit in the country is estimated at 1.2 million, with the difficulty faced by developers in obtaining financing having become one of the main obstacles.
Representatives from the association of civil engineers believe that in order to solve the problem of homelessness in the country, 45 thousand units need to be built every year for the next 20 years.Of these 45 thousand, 35 thousand will be to cover part of the existing deficit and the rest to meet the new demand that is emerging.
This year the union of housing developers plans to build 10,958 houses and apartments and generate sales of $979 million, 23% more than in 2016.
Figures from the National Council of Housing Promoters (Convivienda) indicate that in 2016, 8,864 houses were built and sales of $793 million were made, an increase of almost 8% compared to 2015.
During the event 2,575 mortgages were sold, among which social and middle class housing stood out the most, with prices ranging between $40,000 and $80,000.
The figures provided by the Panamanian Chamber of Construction (Capac) again reflect the growing need for housing that exists in the country, mainly in middle class and lower class segment.
"...Capac reported that 79% ($144,010,565) of the approved amounts corresponded to preferential interest housing and of that figure, 7% ($12,760,000) was approved for social interest properties."
Out off the 8,232 homes sold in 2015, 76% was sold at prices lower than $120.000, 18% at prices between $120,000 and $350,000 and the remaining 6% above $350,000.
Figures from the National Board of Housing Developers (Convivienda) show that home sales for the year totalled more than $900 million.
From the report "Convivienda Results Projections for 2015 and 2016"
The Social Housing Fund (Fondo Social para la Vivienda) in El Salvador will keep the interest rate for social housing construction at 6%.
Francisco Guevara, president of the Social Housing Fund (FSV by its initials in Spanish), explained that this was because the housing supply was less than expected due to red tape delays.
"Some housing projects suffered from lack of technical documents which were in the process of being drawn up, or awaiting inscription in the National Registry. This halted three projects", said Guevara.