Over 90% of the housing supply consists of apartments, in a market that is increasingly homogeneous, segmented, and geared towards middle and high income profiles
SANTO DOMINGO. – Data from the Building Supply Registry (ROE 2025-2) confirms that more than 90% of housing units are apartments, a trend that is not new, but which in this measurement is consolidated and redefines the way the city grows.
Housing remains the focus of the real estate market in the metropolitan region, but the changes recorded in the report do not point to how much is being built, but rather to what type of housing dominates the supply.
The data reveals that apartments are no longer just the majority, they are practically the absolute majority within the formal supply, displacing houses, in response to structural factors such as limitations in the availability of urban land, the increase in construction costs and the need to develop projects with greater density.
As a result, the market is shifting towards a dominant format of multi-family developments, characterized by increased density without full vertical expansion. Although apartments predominate, building heights remain moderate.
Most housing is developed in one- and two-story buildings, indicating that densification is occurring more through land use than vertical growth.
A pattern, already visible in the ROE 2025-1, is maintained in the new measurement: more units per project, but without a significant leap towards intensive verticalization.
Standardization and territory
Due to deficiencies in public transportation, parking ceases to be an added value and becomes an essential part of the real estate product.
Another key piece of data from the ROE 2025-2 is that more than 80% of homes have parking spaces, an element that, beyond its functionality, defines the profile of the potential client: buyers with access to a vehicle, projects aimed at middle and upper-middle segments, in a city that continues to be organized around private transport.
In the ROE 2025-2, the geographical distribution of housing supply is also uneven, as the data reflects a strong concentration in the National District with more than 40% of the total built and Santo Domingo East which accounts for 34.1% of the works, while Santo Domingo North, although it is an area in full swing, concentrates up to the time of the measurement 16.1%.
These data replicate a pattern observed in previous editions, in which the center concentrates value while the periphery absorbs expansion, a behavior that reinforces market segmentation not only by price, but also by location.
Although housing remains the primary destination for construction, supply standards may respond to efficiency and profitability criteria, but they also reduce the variety of options available in the market.
Currently, the supply is almost homogeneous, and apartments and projects that include parking predominate, in similar configurations in size and characteristics, which suggests a more efficient market from the developer's point of view, but with less diversity of options for buyers.
In the macroeconomic context of higher interest rates, tighter financing restrictions, and increased material costs, developers are focusing on higher turnover or profitability products, reducing risks, and opting for proven typologies, such as apartments.
The result is a city with more housing per project and a market increasingly focused on specific segments, mainly middle and upper-middle incomes.
The apartment is not only the dominant product. It is the expression of a market that is adapting to new economic and urban conditions.
More than a specific change, it is a trend that was already present in ROE 2025-1 and is now consolidating, marking the way in which Santo Domingo is being built and inhabited.
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