In this sector of the city, the largest housing, health, commerce, hotel and service projects and developments are being carried out, but two components are of concern: mobility and water supply.
Óscar Osorio Ospina
To Óscar Alberto Sánchez Montoya, current president of the Risaralda Real Estate Market, the real estate vein came to him through his father. Mr. Abel Antonio Sánchez León, the father of this economist from the Free University of Pereira, served in the 50s as a National Expert, a kind of official appraiser today, and maintained his office as a real estate broker for many years. in the Plaza de Bolívar. “My father lived 109 years and worked until a very late age, until he was 90 years old, in his office under a mango tree in the square in front of the Risaralda Lottery. And I feel very proud of that ancestor.” Sanchez Montoya scores. With this union leader, who is currently the vice president of the Colombian Federation of Real Estate Markets, Fedelonjas, and will be in charge of the union’s national presidency this month, we talked about the moment the real estate sector is experiencing in the country.
Initially, let’s take a look at the situation in the real estate sector, which started the year with sales expectations of 250,000 homes this year.
The expectations are very interesting, but as a result of construction costs, the issue of subsidies for social interest housing (VIS) and the interest on such expensive loans, activity has decreased, especially building activity. in social housing. That was the expectation because there is a large deficit in the country of 5 million homes that has to be filled over the years but at this time it is not being covered, unless there are new policies, that interest rates drop and that subsidies can be given to the VIS sector.
In the case of Risaralda, what has been that impact?
The case of Pereira is special, since we are not so affected by VIS construction, because for obvious reasons there is not much land for low-income housing here. We have a very important emerging area, the Cerritos sector, where several successful developments are being carried out, sales behavior is good and due to our location, the logistics segment is also generating a boom in warehouses, which is something very important. On the subject of country housing and since people want to live near the city but in a rural area, it has had a great boom because many people are coming from Bogotá, Cali, other cities, as well as foreigners. , because this area is being very attractive. Likewise, the offer that we are going to have in the field of health is very important, because it generates a lot of employment and value for this region. As I said: it is very important for people to come to invest and live in Pereira.
The Cerritos sector registers the greatest dynamics in the construction of housing, hotels, shopping centers, health and logistics.How can you measure that behavior?
In terms of high-rise housing in the Cerritos sector there may be some 15 important projects underway and in terms of country housing there is an atomization of properties and people are acquiring lots to make their residence, both as a second home or as a main home of those who come from abroad. As for shopping centers, there is a boom in this sense, there are some projects that are in the development stage, others that are on plans, as is the case of Cerritos Mall, the Asturias Partial Plan where the Paseo del Prado is, and we know that Some other possibilities are being scratched that have not yet come to light.
Given this development boom in Cerritos, could mobility become a bottleneck?
That is the main factor that could speed up or slow down sales there. The city is growing very fast, especially in this sector, and we need more mobility and more roads. The Los Colibríes highway is being built, the first stage is well advanced and they are heading towards a second, but they are solutions for two years and we need more large-caliber solutions, such as intersections, overpasses and other types of alternate roads.
Does the other bottleneck seem to be the drinking water supply?
According to the projects that are underway, we have water for many years, but there is no doubt that the city in the future, planned for 50 years, requires other connections for the water supply. There are municipalities like Santa Rosa de Cabal that have a lot of water potential and we need to plan and anticipate there.
Does the planning of the city contemplate these developments?
It is necessary for it to do so, the state has to go hand in hand with the developments of individuals in issues such as road mobility and public services. There is no doubt that Pereira is growing towards Cerritos and that in the future this is going to be the new Pereira, we are already seeing important hotel chains there that think of the city, as is the case of the Hilton and also the Estelar chain has already launched a project in the sector, and in the case of highly complex health we have the fourth level hospital near the Ukumarí Biopark, the Tatamá Foundation clinic in alliance with the Santa Fe Foundation and another hospital in the El Pollo sector. Pereira is going to be a power in health and logistics, and together with that are housing and commerce.
Facing the electoral process, is the Lonja planning to speak with the candidates to raise their concerns about it?
We do not intervene in politics, we are a non-profit entity and we respect the political creeds of our members, but we are available so that the candidates present their proposals and can interact with us, and in what we can serve them with information and ideas we are ready to do it.
What are the city’s problems that should be addressed as a priority?
Undoubtedly what we already talked about, the mobility issue. Areas of the city for social interest housing must also be defined, there is an increasing demand and more people who require it and settlements with their respective public services must always be defined. And we also have to expand the offer in the educational field, already in Pereira even the private schools are collapsing due to the demand that the coming of so many people from outside the city implies.
And how is the leasing segment behaving?
In this matter, for obvious reasons, as the supply of new housing is scarce, in the field of used properties there is less and less supply and higher prices. So this segment is having a good level in terms of demand.
How concerned is the union about the reforms that are being processed in Congress?
These are reforms that affect people’s pockets and in this sense the union is affected because each time they may have less purchasing power for housing, although we are a country with a high rental component, it is estimated that 45% of people in country live on rent. But I believe that there are proposals from different national sectors tending because things ultimately turn out well for us Colombians.
Currently almost half of people live in houses for rent, according to studies of the real estate sector.Fedelonjas Congress
After 42 years, Pereira will once again be the trade union epicenter of the country’s real estate sector: from August 23 to 25, at Expofuturo, the Fedelonjas Congress will be held here, which will be national and international, since it will bring together some 700 attendees, including a hundred of them from the Dominican Republic, Mexico, the United States, Panama and Venezuela. The theme of the event revolves around technological innovation in the real estate business, APPs, protech companies and artificial intelligence. Fedelonjas brings together 19 real estate markets in the country and, in turn, the Lonja de Risaralda has 37 affiliates, including appraisers and real estate agents who are dedicated to sales and leasing.