Amid the crisis and warnings about housing sales, which are experiencing historic lows, house prices are also falling in real terms.
Its impact is such that, in addition to affecting the prices of new housing adjusted for inflation, it also affects the prices of used housing, which constitute the wealth of millions of families.
Although buyers may notice that the prices they are asked for properties increase periodically, These increases are below the high inflation experienced in ColombiaThis means a real decrease in new housing prices and a real devaluation of used housing.
Banco de la República’s new and used home price indexes show that at least 15 months have passed without an increase in prices In real terms, on the contrary, they decrease.
According to the index calculated by the Central Bank, the last month in which prices increased compared to 12 months ago was June last year. On this occasion it did so by 0.1 percent. This result groups the behavior of three main cities in the country: Bogotá, Medellín and Cali, and the regions surrounding Bogotá.
According to the issuer’s reports, the situation where prices dropped the most was the situation around Bogotá. The annual price drop in September this year was 7 percent.
Likewise, the first place where the price decline examined by Cumhuriyet Bank started was in this region near the capital, starting from March 2022.
In April last year, prices in Bogota began to fall by 0.6 percent, and in the same month this year the annual decline was already at 6 percent.
The biggest price drop around Bogotá was in January this year, with 9.7 percent. And that’s the closest we’ve come to a double-digit impact.
In Bogota, the worst decline occurred in February 2023, at 6.2 percent. In fact, that month was the month with the biggest decrease in real prices in the capital group examined by Cumhuriyet Bank. There was a total decrease of 6.7 percent. The region where the biggest decrease was seen was around Bogota, with 8.8 percent. It was followed by Cali with 7.4 percent and Medellín with 6.1 percent.
However, the effect of prices was seen not only in new houses, but also in second-hand houses, whose value decreased 3 times during the most difficult period of the Covid-19 epidemic.
While prices decreased by 1.79 percent in the second quarter of 2020, the most critical moment of the pandemic, the decrease was 5.24 percent in the last quarter of 2022.
The highest decrease in all of 2020 occurred in the second quarter. On the other hand, there was not a single quarter in 2021 in which second-hand homes lost value. In fact, a year later, the second quarter was the best and they gained 5 percent more value in real terms. This was the highest price increase since 2015. At that time, there was a real increase of 5.32 percent in prices. .
According to the Banco de la República index, the price decrease in the second quarter of this year was 4.03 percent.
The collapse in sales has been felt since last year, and so far from 2023 to September the decline has been 48 percentand new project launches fell 23 percent. Affordable housing (VIS) sales are down 56 percent. In absolute numbers, there was a decline in 92,000 house sales between January and September this year, 73,000 of which correspond to VIS.
Industry experts emphasize that the changes made by the Government in the Mi Casa Ya support program played an important role in this sharp decline in sales. At the last Camacol congress, former Minister of Housing Luis Felipe Henao stated: “before, from beginning to end My House Already 89,000 houses have been built, then we increased to 160,000 per year. This reduced multidimensional poverty. “Today, we have gone back at least twenty years.”
In the same scenario, National Savings Fund (FNA) President Laura Milena Roa stated that although there was a great problem in economic matters, measures were taken. “We are aware that we are facing a huge challenge. As a government, we are doing everything possible to revitalize the housing sector. This is not a perfect solution, but it is a start.”
In the midst of this situation, Mario Ramírez, president of the Colombian Federation of Real Estate Exchanges (Fedelonjas), says real estate investment remains a low-risk and competitively profitable option, considering the valuation of the property and the income the rental fee represents.
“There has been a significant recovery in the rental market in the last decade. According to the National Quality of Life Survey published by Denmark, while there were approximately 4.66 million tenant households in the country in 2013, this figure increased by 51.1 percent to 7.05 million in 2022. In other words, between 2013 and 2022, the tenant household stock increased by 2.83 million,” the manager said.
According to Ramírez, this indicates an encouraging outlook for the rental market in terms of demand.
According to the expert, 40.22 percent of the 17.5 million households reported in the country in 2022 are renting, and 38.96 percent are living in their own homes.
ECONOMY EDITOR
Source: Exame
I am Bret Jackson, a professional journalist and author for Gadget Onus, where I specialize in writing about the gaming industry. With over 6 years of experience in my field, I have built up an extensive portfolio that ranges from reviews to interviews with top figures within the industry. My work has been featured on various news sites, providing readers with insightful analysis regarding the current state of gaming culture.
