In May 2023, sales of social interest housing (VIS) fell 66%, compared to the same period in 2022, and they completed 15 months of continuous withdrawals and a quarterly average of VIS sales and offers of medium and high ranges (Non-VIS) lower than initiations.
According to a report from Urban Coordinate, the georeferenced information system of the Colombian Chamber of Construction (Camacol), between January and May 2023″64,000 homes were abandoned for sale compared to the same period in 2022. This represented a reduction of $13 trillion in investment in new homes by households (1 percentage point of GDP).«.
Of that amount, 7 billion pesos corresponded to VIS.
Thus, since the union announced three proposals to reactivate the sector, since «With the reactivation of social housing, the expected growth of the economy could be doubled and the sector could promote an extra increase in the economy of the order of 1.5% of GDP«.
The first is to catch up with the Mi Casa Ya (MCY) program. According to government announcements, with the budget addition of 1 trillion pesos, 2.24 trillion would be achieved for the program, which would make it possible to disburse 75,000 subsidies this year.
Additionally, there will be 52,000 interest rate coverage for 2023 and 8,000 for 2024. However, the accounts indicate that at least 90,000 down payment subsidies and interest rate coverage are required to cover the household demand. This means that there is a deficit of 15,000 subsidies for the initial fee and 33,000 coverage. For this reason, one last effort is required, in order to balance the accounts and serve the households that will need Mi Casa Ya to gain access to their own home.
The second proposal bet on working on the countercyclical strategy announced by President Gustavo Petro, which must be presented to the sector, so that it can be promoted in an articulated way to stimulate the start of works. The union leader assures that it is necessary to appropriate the budgetary resources for 2024 in order to support more than 100 thousand VIS that already have more than 70% marketed and a year of pre-sale.
Housing sale.
The third proposal consists of guaranteeing business sustainability with a transition regime so that households that have already bought their homes can continue with their real estate businesses and entrepreneurs can thus close the projects they have and launch others.
This would avoid the cancellation of works that, according to Coordenada Urbana, as of May, increased by 18% with special incidence in 92% of the medium and small companies that develop VIS. Added to this is the impact on the industrial chain of buildings, and on retail trade and micro-businesses associated with the popular economy.
Regarding the effects on the sector due to the modification to the MCY program, Herrera added that the proposed actions also seek to counteract the decrease in disbursements of new subsidized VIS which, according to the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane), fell 79% in the First quarter of the year. «Even so, and in the midst of eventualities, housing has shown that it continues to be a good investment»