The figures just released for employment and property in northeast Brazil highlight that both markets are booming and well ahead of those at national level. The state of Ceará was one of the centres for job creation as well as a hot spot for property.
Booming Job Market
Ceará created 47,372 jobs last year, nearly 4 per cent higher than the previous year’s figure. Over half the new jobs were in the services industries where almost 25,000 jobs were created. Some 12,000 jobs were in the trade sector and just under 9,000 in the construction sector. Some 30,470 jobs were located in the capital of the state, Fortaleza.
These buoyant figures showed that Ceará “is one of the major centres of job creation in the country,” said the President of the Institute of Labour Development. This northeast state had the third highest rate of job creation in 2014 behind just Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catalina.
Booming Property Market
As well as leading the nation in job creation, Ceará also heads the Brazilian property market, both for mortgage lending and the construction of new builds. Figures just released by the Brazilian Association of Mortages (ABECIP) confirm the buoyant property market in the state.
New mortgages in Ceará last year totalled R$2.7 billion, a hike of 25.8 per cent on the amount loaned during 2013. In their comparison, ABECIP contrasted this massive increase with the national figure of just 3.4 per cent, almost eight times lower.
Some R$112.9 billion went towards new mortgages in Brazil last year and the 3.4 per cent increase was lower than ABECIP predictions (5 per cent). The mortgage association attributed this failure to meet forecasts to the political uncertainty and slowdown in the economy last year.
In complete contrast to the rest of Brazil, the state of Ceará is in a class of its own when it comes to property as not only is it well ahead of the nation in terms of mortgage loans, the market for new builds in Ceará is also booming. Over 13,900 new properties were completed in Fortaleza last year, over a third more than the previous year.
“Unlike other capitals, Fortaleza still has a hot market because of the big shortage of housing,” said Lazari Junior, the President of ABECIP. In autumn last year, the President of CRECI-CE (the regional property advisory body) estimated that Fortaleza would need some 100,000 new properties to meet this demand.
Sources: ABECIP and Diario do Nordeste
