Paradoxical or not, the maintenance of the Selic (basic interest rate) at the very high level of 13.75% per year for almost seven months – on the pretext of combating inflation – in practice, is reinforcing a cycle of increases in various economic sectors. Let those who wish to obtain a lease say so, whose values were inflated, by scale, as a result of the higher rates of real estate financing, which made owning a home ‘a more than impossible dream’.
As a result, the growing demand for locations made their value jump 17.05%, in the 12 months counting until February, on average, in 25 Brazilian cities surveyed, as evidenced by research referring to the FipeZap+ index, when pointing out that the percentage increase is the highest in 11 years, second only to December 2011, when the variation reached 17.30%.
In another comparison, the cited increase corresponds to almost ten times the accumulated increase, in the same period, by the IGP-M (an indicator also known as ‘rent inflation’), which advanced 1.86%, in the same period of 12 months until February.
For the economist and coordinator of the research, Alison Oliveira, “with the high interest rate, those who cannot buy a property rent”, adding that the weakening of the purchase and sale of properties brought reflections on acquisition prices. He estimates that, only in the 12 months up to February, the square meter rose, on average, 5.79% in 50 surveyed cities, accompanying the accumulated inflation in that period.
The monetary tightening produced by the Central Bank – which serves to keep the current Selic rate at the current high level – is the main factor indicated by the economist at LCA Consultores, Fabio Romão, for the virtual paralysis of property sales, in favor of leases, even if more expensive.
The study of the real estate indicator highlights another factor of rising rents, through the return of face-to-face work, as a result of the stabilization of the pandemic cycle, which activated the demand for renting houses and apartments, in addition to fueling the rise in prices in the sector.