After pronounced monthly drops in sales, the Colombian Chamber of Construction (Camacol) announced that lhe contraction in new home sales (VIS and Non-Vis) continued in April, with a drop of 62% compared to the same month of 2022.

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The president of the union, Guillermo Herrera, when presenting the most recent report from Coordenada Urbana, Camacol’s georeferenced information system, said that in the specific case of low-income housing (VIS), the figures were also down in the fourth month of 2023.

Among the figures it is evident that for the month of April 5,674 units were sold, that is, 11,117 less compared to the same month of 2022which means a decrease of 66%.

The report also reveals that during the first four months of the year the vtotal sales fell 55%, with a contraction of 59% in social interest housing. In addition, in the last twelve months, in April, 186,416 new homes were sold, representing a decrease of 30%; the contraction of the VIS in said period was 31% in annual terms.

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«All actions, in a countercyclical strategy, will be decisive to reactivate the behavior of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the construction sector, especially that of buildings»Herrera said.

As revealed by Dane, the GDP of the construction of residential and non-residential buildings observed a positive variation of 2.6% during the first three months of the year, much lower than the 11.9% growth observed in the same period of 2022.
In this regard, the president of Camacol said that it is very important reactivate building activity, given the risks on employment that can be had by not reversing the current trend.

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In addition, the initiations of new VIS housing construction works in April decreased 39%, compared to the same month of 2022, and the volume of activity that had its construction process increased 30% annually in the first quarter of the year.

«These results should be seen as an alert signal to implement all sectoral and housing policy actions that allow the volume of activity that suspended its construction processes.»
concluded

PAULA ANDREA GALEANO BALAGUERA
BRIEFCASE