SANTO DOMINGO.- Two months after the executive director of Pro Consumidor, Eddy Alcántara, publicly assured that the long-awaited Registry of Suppliers for the Real Estate and Construction Sector would be ready this December, the platform exists… but without fulfilling its basic function: it does not contain a single registered supplier from the sector.
The most recent announcement was made by Alcántara in October, during his participation in the El InmobiliarioForum. There, he guaranteed that the registry, presented as a crucial tool to combat fraud, scams, and irregular projects in the Dominican real estate market, would be operational before the end of the year.
However, when consulted yesterday by El Inmobiliario , the official acknowledged that the process has been more complex than anticipated, but stated that the agency is making progress in completing the work on the platform to have it operational by the second quarter of 2026 .
An empty platform
The promise of the platform generated expectations in a sector that has been affected in recent times by irregular practices and the increase in informal real estate brokerage. However, by December, the reality is quite different: the registration section is created on the Pro Consumidor website, but it doesn't show any registered real estate or construction companies.
The agency's official website offers links to "consult registered providers" and to "register as a real estate or construction provider." Both suggest a functioning system, but upon accessing the public list—the concrete evidence that the registry is active—what appears is a catalog of providers from other sectors: retail, telecommunications, services, automobiles. Not a single real estate company. Not a single construction company. Not a single broker.
“It has been difficult for us to obtain the necessary information and data. We have had to search for it ourselves, because the construction companies have not provided us with the information and we have had to find it through other means ,” Eddy Alcántara expressed with a hint of frustration.
Pro Consumidor has opened the storefront, but there's nothing behind the glass.
The absence of registered companies leaves the platform's main objective—providing buyers with a minimum security filter before contracting a real estate project or handing over a deposit—unfulfilled.
A project that's not getting off the ground
The registration of real estate providers is not a new mechanism. Its origins date back to 2020, when Pro Consumidor developed a formal proposal to create a mandatory database of real estate and construction providers. That year, a comprehensive document outlining the project's structure was prepared, and training workshops were held with key stakeholders in the sector, such as the Association of Real Estate Agencies and Companies (AEI) and the Dominican College of Engineers, Architects, and Surveyors (CODIA).
The institution presented the registry as a modern and necessary tool to regulate a highly informal market and reduce consumer abuses. Five years later, there is no public evidence that this first version was ever implemented. Alcántara himself, speaking at the El Inmobiliario Forum, stated that the 2025 proposal “is not the same” as the 2020 one, confirming that the original project was left unfinished.
A new cycle of announcements?
Last October, the specialized portal Inmobiliario.do reported Alcántara's statement: the registry would be “ready by the end of 2025” and the platform was 75-80% complete. This new promise raised expectations.
But as of December, the most concrete evidence is this:
The section exists. The director promised its activation this month. The registry does not display any registered providers in the sector. Without a visible and functional listing, the announcement falls short, and the tool remains a project perpetually in the “coming soon” phase.
A Void Affecting Consumers:
The lack of an operational registry leaves citizens without a basic tool to verify whether a real estate or construction company meets minimum requirements. In a market where pre-sales without guarantees, broken delivery promises, and projects without permits are rampant, the absence of a registry perpetuates consumer vulnerability.
Industry associations, for their part, have insisted for years on the need for clearer regulations and institutional filters to define who can sell, build, or act as an intermediary in real estate. Without a functional registry, this task remains pending.
Digital Architecture Without an Institutional Foundation:
The Registry of Real Estate and Construction Suppliers is, at this moment, an empty structure: a facade without content. Its existence on the web shows intent, but its lack of operation reveals improvisation, institutional discontinuity, and a lack of effective control.
After five years of successive promises and a missed launch date, the question remains: when will Dominican consumers have the tool they have been promised time and again?
They have not made the process easy
Eddy Alcántara stated that actors in the construction sector have not provided the necessary data and said that the goal is for the registry to be available before May 2026 , as a mechanism for consumer protection and strengthening of the sector.
"It will also serve to generate alerts for both citizens of the country and the diaspora, so that in case a fraudulent operation or scam is detected, the Public Prosecutor's Office will be alerted.".
