(An excerpt from a recent article at Valor Economico)
“In the past few years, the value of houses rose much more than the Brazilians’ income, generating a mismatch between the capacity of families to contract debt and real-estate financing. While the average income of Brazilian workers rose 43% between 2007 and 2011, the average value of financing for acquisition of real estate done by the Housing Finance System, or SFH, which uses funds managed by the government, increased 83%. New financing rules announced recently by Caixa Economica Federal, the state-owned bank that manages most funds to finance housing, tend to ease access of new families to such credit.
In 2007, average loans were R$82,000 and monthly installments were absorbing 42% of an average Brazilian couple’s income, considering a 30-year maturity. Last year, average financing reached R$150,000, with initial installments accounting for 52% of the couples’ income.
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