The housing sector continues to not raise its head so far this year. According to the most updated figures from Coordenada Urbana, the information system of the Colombian Chamber of Construction, Camacol, Home sales had an annual drop of 26.9% in May.
In total, they were sold 133,725 homes over the past 12 months, This is 49,124 fewer homes than those that were marketed in May of last year.
So far this year, that is, between January and May, Home sales registered a cumulative contraction of 14% compared to the same period in 2023.
The result, which was identical to that registered in the period January-April 2024, allows us to conclude that, although the deterioration has not accelerated, marketing indicators remain low“Camacol indicated in a statement.
Regarding the value of sales, the market registered a contraction of 10.9% in the first five months of 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. In total, pre-sales of $15.46 billion were recorded in this periodthis is almost $2 billion less than what this industry moved last year ($17.35 billion) and $11.7 billion less than the $27.25 billion in 2022.
“Although the value of sales of Priority Interest Housing (VIP) increased by 58.8%, which represents a growth of $299,704 million in 2024the VIS segment other than VIP (-$1.2 billion) and the Non-VIS (-$969,848 million) recorded a cumulative drop of -$2.19 billion”Camacol added.
Regarding the construction of new homes, as of May 2024, a decrease of 11.2% was recorded. By segments, VIS housing grew 1% compared to 2023, this is explained by a variation of about 4,237 units started in the segment of up to 90 minimum wages (Housing of Priority Interest, VIP).
Regarding the VIP indicators, the executive president of Camacol, Guillermo Herrera, He pointed out that the rebound is explained by the incentives that the National Government has generated in this segmentwhich has been the center of the initiatives from the current public policy.
“The commercial behavior of the VIP is remarkable, but its sales volume is far from offsetting the general market declines, and therefore we cannot speak of a reactivation based on Priority Interest Housing,” Herrera said.
Lowest level since 2020
Reviewing the historical results of the Coordenada Urbana platform, It is found that 8,722 housing units were sold in May alone.
This is the lowest level for four years, the sector it did not drop below 10,000 homes sold since May 2020 when 9,708 were registered. A month earlier, in April, only 6,476 were sold due to the economic slowdown caused by the covid-19 pandemic.
Measures for reactivation
According to Camacol, in May 2024 Nearly 164,500 homes available for sale nationwide were registeredin more than 3,000 active projects that had the participation of 1,374 companies in the sector.
“The market is prepared to generate the works required for the reactivation, but it is necessary to manage the resources to maintain the operation of the current housing policy and generate additional impulses to demanda,” Camacol said.
Regarding the Mi Casa Ya program, For this year, 50,000 places were announced by the Ministry of Housing, with which beneficiary households must receive a family housing subsidy of between 20 and 30 minimum wages, and coverage of the interest rate.
But only 33,000 interest rate coverages are availablewhich compromises the disbursement of 17,000 subsidies.
In May there were fewer new home launches and initiations
In addition to the drop in home sales, the launches of new projects also continue to be hit hard. In May alone, 8,078 housing projects were started, 36.4% less than those registered in April of this year.
The segment that had the worst results was No VIS, with only 1,651 units launched, which meant a drop of 65.7%. Initiations also fell 20.1%, the fall was cushioned by the increase of 65.4% in the Priority Interest Housing sector.
