When I first arrived in Panama in 2006, I looked out the window of the airplane as we approached Panama City at a sea of red roofs in numerous projects in the suburbs. These were housing units that were initially proposed to be affordable at just $35,000 to $45,000 and with government subsidized loan programs were available to anyone who held a permanent job and had a few hundred dollars for a down payment. As the lower and middle class moved up, so did the prices but the occupancy cost were still in line with rental homes. We even have a great little project in Boquete that is the first of it’s kind and it is doing well.
On the broader scope, housing in general still needs to be addressed in Latin America and while not stellar, Panama has a good record of improving the picture here. The Inter – American Development Bank reports that the percentage of the population living in substandard homes or those who do not have adequate housing, reaches 78% in Nicaragua, 67% in Guatemala, 58% in El Salvador, 57% in Honduras, 39% in Panama and 18% in Costa Rica.
An IDB study indicates that over two thirds of households in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Bolivia and Peru live in poor housing. Brazil and Mexico are the countries which have the largest deficits.
From a statement by the IDB:
IDB STUDY: LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN FACE GROWING HOUSING DEFICIT
In order to increase the supply of adequate and affordable housing, countries need to improve land tenure legislation, expand financing methods and mobilize private financing
Latin America and the Caribbean are facing a significant and growing housing shortage that can only be dealt with if their governments promote greater investment by the private sector in order to increase the supply of adequate and affordable housing, according to a new study by the Inter American Development Bank (IDB).
Today, one in three families in Latin America and the Caribbean, a total of 59 million people, live in inadequate housing or in houses built with flimsy materials or lacking basic services. Nearly two million of the three million households that are formed each year in Latin American cities are forced to settle in informal housing, and in marginal areas, because of an insufficient supply of adequate and affordable housing, according to the study entitled “A space for development: housing markets in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
Tom
Have you heard any new dates for the completiion of the new airport in David?
Marlene