Real estate sales sliding
BY GARRETT NASWORTHY
The News
Brokers from abroad have seen high-end and large commercial property sales in Mexico stagnate in the past several months, with some saying they are now selling nothing.
"I have listed mid- to high-range properties in éapulco, Cancún and Mazatlán that have been receiving many little bites and inquiries, but no one has been willing to make a purchase," said Richard Miranda, a broker at Uptown Real Estate Group in Houston. He added that properties in the border and traditional areas of development for foreigners are all susceptible.
Miranda said before the current downturn in sales his firm would close at least 4-5 properties per month.
"Now we have seen a definite downturn in closes, not many people are buying," he said.
Last week, the Mexican Association of Real Estate Professionals, or AMPI, said it had revised down estimates for real estate sales in 2008 due to poor high-end and border-zone sales.
AMPI expects sales to rise 5 percent year on year in 2008. It had predicted 17 percent growth at the beginning of the year. The border zone has seen sales drop 50 percent this year versus 2007, AMPI said. Particularly hard hit were coastal destinations.
"What has been a real surprise is that coastal areas have been hit particularly hard, even ones not frequented by U.S. buyers," said Sergio Gómez Rábago, president of AMPI's chapter covering the Mexico City metropolitan area. European buyers are as thin on the ground as U.S. buyers, he said.
The organization's national executives went as far as asking for government assistance and investment late Thursday, saying that investment was direly needed to promote sales in its high-end developments.
http://www.thenews.com.mx/home/tnArticu ... ont=219738
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