In times of pandemic, the purchase of housing has become a long-term investment refuge asset for Colombian families, which for two consecutive years have achieved historical records of acquisitions.
In addition to this “exhaust” situation, this phenomenon also has a very important factor: housing subsidies.
In a dialogue with Portfolio, Sandra Forero, president of the Colombian Chamber of Construction (Camacol), sees with good eyes that in general terms the presidential candidates have in their plans to maintain the policy of access to housing, including adding new mechanisms.
How did 2021 close for the sector?
We exceeded what we had planned. We expect to close the year with 232,000 units sold throughout the year and we closed with 240,000, a figure 16% higher than in 2021. Expectations were exceeded. Also in 2021, we started the construction of 169,000 homes.
How was Bogota?
To the main cities of it went very well. The main markets are Antioquia, Bogotá and Cundinamarca, Valle del Cauca and Atlántico. And in all of them we had very important growth throughout the previous year.
In the case of Bogotá, it grew by 19% compared to 2020. In Atlántico there was a growth in sales of 37% compared to 2020. There are also other cases such as Tolima 27%, Santander 52% and other smaller-scale markets such as Meta or Magdalena, also had significant growth. In summary, when one sees the panorama, 80% of the country’s market has already exceeded the levels of 2020, even 2019. We have defined the reactivation of housing sales as a fact that was regionally generalized.
What to expect in 2022?
We see a market with important characteristics. The first thing is that in 2021 we had an unprecedented year in the sale of housing, thanks to some factors that explain this growth and a good part of them are going to be maintained, such as subsidies.
The second thing is that housing is being valued. Throughout 2021 we saw how the average cost grew by 4.5% and it is a positive figure compared to other types of investments.
We are concerned that the cost of some construction materials will remain high. That prints a very important risk for the projects.
That said, we envision a market where we go from shipping 240,000 to 250,000 units. We see growth in construction starts with 185,000 homes beginning their construction phase. We thus imagine a Gross Domestic Product of the sector that grows 17.7%.
Speaking of changes, how do you see the candidates?
So far we’ve had a few meetings on the general economic outlook, nothing formal. Between the last week of March and the first of April we will have our housing forum with the candidates, once there is more clarity on the current coalitions.
In the previous discussion, almost in a generalized way, everyone sees in housing a very important engine of growth and social development, and in the importance of sustaining housing policy and even strengthening it with new instruments and policies, as a fundamental element of its proposals 2022 – 2026. That gives us an interesting discussion scenario.
We as a union are preparing a document that contemplates the entire proposal that we will make at the time about how we imagine the housing, habitat and urban development policy should be in the period 2022 – 2026, since there are many things that must be of continuity . Achieving these results shows us that many things have been done well and that we must continue.
What other things will we learn about Camacol in 2022?
For 2022 there are three great pillars. The first: to continue strengthening the housing policy and access to housing in Colombia, as well as giving it greater scope. Colombia still has room to allocate more fiscal resources to social policy. The second major element is to expand the frontier of the sector and with that we want to take advantage of the benefits of a devaluation and the potential for foreign investment. There are markets with a tourist vocation that are thinking of housing for investment, such as Atlántico, Bolívar, Magdalena and the Coffee Region.
We are going to launch a business plan for companies that want to enter the rental housing segment. We are also going to redouble our efforts in terms of sustainability. We want it to cover the entire value chain of the sector.
ROBERTO CASAS LUGO
BRIEFCASE
