Brazil housing starts drop 25 percent in September -research group

Gafisa SA

16/11/2016 22:19

SAO PAULO, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Brazil's housing starts 
declined sharply in September as the country's recession 
continued to hurt demand for real estate, an industry research 
group said on Wednesday. 
    The widely followed Abrainc-Fipe index showed a 25 percent 
slump in the launch of new home construction projects in 
September from the same month a year ago. 
    Home sales fell by 5 percent to 9,300 units for the month, 
university research center Fipe and industry group Abrainc said 
in a joint statement.    
    The so-called VSO indicator, which gauges sales as a share 
of units available for purchase, slipped 0.8 percentage point to 
7.6 percent, indicating available inventory would cover 13.2 
months worth of demand, the statement added. 
    Sales cancellations, which have been weighing on 
homebuilders results this year, fell by 8.1 percent to 3,800 
units in September. 
    The Abrainc-Fipe indicator, launched in August 2015, is the 
first national index for the real estate sector, compiling data 
provided by 20 of 34 Abrainc associate members operating in 
Brazil. 
     
 
 (Reporting by Ana Mano; Editing by Tom Brown) 
 ((ana.mano@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +55-11-5644-7704; Mob: 
+55-119-4470-4529; Reuters Messaging: 
ana.mano.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: BRAZIL REAL ESTATE/HOUSINGSTARTS