Affordable housing not worthwhile for developers says lawyer

Building and selling affordable housing isn’t financially viable for private developers according to an interview by ECO with Patrícia Viana, a real estate lawyer and partner at law firm Abreu.

“The question on the table is whether the construction and sale of affordable housing is attractive for a developer and how far the numbers on an excel stack up if tax costs, the costs of land, licensing, materials and labour continue to rise?

“And if the development of upper high end and luxury development has a market, how can you convince developers away from this path and get them to build affordable housing”, she says.

The lawyer stresses that while construction costs are so high, there is no model that has been created so far that can solve the problem of lack of affordable housing.

Instead, reducing taxes on construction, continuing to slash bureaucracy and speeding up the licensing process, while reintroducing the eligibility of investments in real estate for the Golden Visa could be factors to stimulate the sector.

A member of WIRE (Women in Real Estate), she also says it is important to raise the visibility of women in real estate and construction.

“The visibility of women, not just in real estate, but also in construction needs to increase so we’re not just a quota share out of 30 men. We don’t want token quotas, we want equal opportunities.”

Image: Abreu