PRESS RELEASE, 12.14.2010 - Latest figures estimate that investment in civil construction in Brazil needs to average R$255 billion a year until 2022. By then, the shortage of property in Brazil should equal that in developed countries.

Marbella, 14 December 2010. Latest figures estimate that investment in civil construction in Brazil needs to average R$255 billion a year until 2022. By then, the shortage of property in Brazil should equal that in developed countries.

Brazil has a massive housing shortage and the investment needed to reduce it is also massive. According to the latest estimates published by the São Paulo Industry Federation (Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo/FIESP), around R$3 trillion investment in Brazilian property is necessary to build 17.5 million homes over the next 12 years.

These 17.5 million properties include those within the social housing programme, Minha Casa Minha Vida plus millions others to be built for the increasingly affluent Brazilian middle classes. FIESP believes that if the Brazilian economy continues to grow – and with the OECD predicting at least 5% annual growth over the next three years, all signs point to this – it’s possible that by 2022, the shortage of real estate in Brazil will be similar to established markets.

FIESP in conjunction with the Brazilian economic research experts, Fundação Gertulio Vargas are due to present a report addressing the most important concerns in civil construction. These concerns include the shortage of labour, particularly qualified and experienced civil construction professionals, and rising taxes on building supplies.

FIESP emphasises the need to approach the housing shortage in a sustainable way to avoid a property bubble in Brazil such as the one recently experienced in the US.
For the Director of FIESP, João Robusti, “Brazil is at a crossroads in housing development” and for growth to be sustainable, the civil construction industry must anticipate potential problems.

“Designing a long-term housing programme is a huge challenge,” he said, “but the economic stability and rising purchasing power plus growth in infrastructure show that it is possible.”

For the FIESP, the objective of all investment in property in Brazil over the next 12 years should be to reduce the housing shortage as much as possible. Work towards achieving this objective is already underway as can clearly be seen in the latest civil construction figures in Brazil.

The building industry created 2.8 million jobs in the ten months up to October this year, considerably ahead of the 2.3 million new jobs in construction in 2009. Production in civil construction saw a year-on-year increase of 10.1% in the year to October with the region of Recife seeing the biggest hike (30.7%).

These trends are set to continue as Brazil moves towards reducing its mammoth housing deficit. The civil construction sector needs an additional labour force of 10.2 million between now and 2022 to keep with demand. And the huge annual investment – R$255 billion a year according to FIESP – will ensure production levels continue to grow.

Construction materials are another sector experiencing huge growth. For UK Trade and Industry, “Brazil’s construction sector has one of the largest growth rates in the world” and Ernst & Young believe that the pressure of demand for housing “translates into sustained demand for building materials”.

For Obelisk, the huge demand in Brazil for property and the investment needed to keep up with it are the main reasons for our presence there. We see opportunities in several niche markets and believe all offer excellent investment potential until at least 2022.

About Obelisk: Obelisk offers select investment opportunities in Brazil and gives investors security, profitability and diversity thanks to a combination of close attention to our clients' investment requirements and high quality in-house research and analysis.

For more information on investment in Brazil and to find out about Obelisk’s latest projects there, contact us on 0034 952 820 319. Via email:info@obeliskinternational.com or visit our website:www.obeliskinternational.com.