SANTO DOMINGO – The past year was a blessed one for the construction industry. Throughout 2021, property sales remained strong, while economic indicators supported the real estate boom with consistently favorable figures.
“Without a doubt, 2021 has been a record year for sales and growth in the operations of our agents and companies in the real estate sector of the Dominican Republic,” says Alberto Bogaert, president of the Association of Real Estate Agents and Companies (AEI).
“For many reasons,” he says, “we can project a very favorable and positive 2022 to maintain and surpass the statistics of this past year.”.
He supports his comment by citing the quality offering of the construction sector, the development of an investment culture, memorable service from agents, government incentives, and mortgage proposals from banks.
Claudia Castillo, CEO of Top Inmobiliario, agrees that this year the real estate sector will continue to see significant progress in sales and the number of projects.
“Real estate remains one of the most solid investments. Right now, investors and high-income families want to make safe investments. So, what better than real estate? Those in the middle and lower classes want to acquire their own homes and are organizing themselves for that,” he emphasizes.
Castillo believes the pandemic helped people see their priorities more clearly. “I understand that tourist accommodation will continue to play a leading role in 2022 with an increase of more than 25% compared to last year.”.
“The outlook is promising, the reason is basically because as a country we have four engines driving the economy and as long as they work our sector will benefit,” explains Bienvenido Paulino, of Plusval Venta Directa.
The sectors he referred to are tourism, remittances, free trade zones, and construction. He cited several specialized international publications that rank the country as a destination to consider for investment, which he believes will benefit the sector.
He viewed the increase in the Dominican Republic's Central Bank's monetary policy rate from 3.50 to 4.50 as positive, because he believes there was overstimulation in the economy that needed to be stopped. "We have to rein it in a bit to stabilize it and stop inflation. We have to look after the health of the economy at a global level, not individually.".
In her 21 years working in the sector, Alenny Garabito had never experienced such a buying frenzy. "We've been blessed," she said. "Anyone who hasn't sold or has sold very little in the last two years needs to take a hard look at themselves.".
In the case of his company, TimeHomes Real Estate, sales began their upward trend in April 2020. “Sales in 2020 almost exceeded those of 2019, and in 2021 they far surpassed those of the previous two years.”.
One factor contributing to the increase is the Airbnb boom. She asserts that this was a year for real estate agents to "save for a rainy day, because not every day is a holiday. I'm confident that this year will be better." "Long live real estate!" Garabito concludes.
It wasn't all glory
One of the consequences of the pandemic was the delay in freight shipments, a situation that affected global trade. The soaring cost of these shipments led to significant price increases in many construction materials, which remained unstable for much of the year.
This situation led to a rise in housing prices and construction project costs. Shipping lines and logistics operators anticipate that freight and cargo rates will remain high throughout the first half of 2022.
