The first six months of 2018 proved that the Brazilian property market is moving forward and fast. Between January and June, figures for both sales and launches soared. As a result, inventory levels have fallen and currently stand at 12 months’ supply, down by almost half in 18 months.
Excellent semester for sales
According to figures compiled by the National Institute for Economic Research (FIPE in Brazilian) and the Brazilian Association for Property Corporations (ABRAINC), the first six months of this year saw big rises in both sales and launches of new property in Brazil.
Net sales of new-build Brazilian property rose by 3.3% in June compared to May and took a leap of 28.5% between January and June. During the first half of the year, some 41,202 new properties were sold throughout the country.
The statewide social housing project, Minha Casa Minha Vida, took the lion’s share of sales and represented 25% of the increase. The project provides access to medium to low-cost housing to Brazilians across the country with favourable mortgage conditions.
Excellent semester for launches
New projects for Brazilian property also had a good first half of the year. According to FIPE and ABRAINC figures, launches of new property went up by 38% in June compared to the previous month. When comparing January to June this year with the same period last year, launches rose by 32.2%.
In this sector, launches of medium to high-end properties in Brazil were largely responsible for the hike. In June, 1,873 high-end units were launched, a month-on-month increase of 20.2%. By the end of the first semester, Brazil had a total of 121,286 new-build properties on the market, an increase of 1.3% in the year.
Excellent second quarter
The second quarter of this year also posted excellent results for property sales throughout Brazil. Figures released by the Brazilian Construction Industry Chamber (CII in Brazilian) show high increases in both quarterly and annually terms.
Brazilian property sales went up by 17.3% between April and June compared to the first three months of the year. When the year-on-year period is considered, sales soared by 32.1%. One of the highest increases took place in Northeast Brazil where property sales grew by 34.7% in the second quarter of this year.
Healthy inventory
A further sign of the buoyancy in the Brazilian property market comes in inventory levels. These stood at 21 months at the end of 2016, considered by analysts to be the bottom of the cycle. A year later, supply had dropped to 17 months and by June this year, it stood at just 12 months.
Demand is currently very strong throughout the country. “Sales are currently higher than launches, which have gone up but not sufficiently to replace what is being sold,” said Jose Carlos Martins, President of the National Property Industry Commission (CBIC in Brazilian), quoted in the Diario do Nordeste broadsheet.
(Sources: O Povo, Diario do Nordeste)
