The housing market in Peru’s capital Lima and the port city of Callao have shown red-hot growth in the second quarter, rising 28 percent compared to the year earlier period, according to consulting firm Tinsa.
Tinsa said that housing sales totaled 7,173 units in the second quarter, up from 5,609 units in the same period in 2011, state news agency Andina reported.
Tinsa’s general manager, Gino Layseca, said the sales figure was a recovery from slower growth in the first quarter.
“The ratio of real demand has recovered,” he said.
The greatest demand for homes came from the middle class and upper-middle class, known in Peru as socio-economic levels C and B, respectively. Eighty-seven percent of the sales went to those groups, Tinsa said. Besides new high-rises in the traditionally successful areas of San Isidro and Miraflores, catering to level B, there are housing projects of houses, apartments andcondominiums in north Lima catering to level C, and a growing number of condominiums and gated communities being developed for both socio-economic levels in the Lurin valley south of Lima.
The sale of homes to the upper class, or socio-economic level A, represented 8.7 percent of the units in the quarter.
The total sales value during the quarter was 2.1 billion soles (approximately $800 million), compared to 1.54 billion soles in the same quarter last year.
Robust growth for real-estate in Lima has led to a surge in prices of apartments and houses in recent years. The construction industry has also been boosted by the demand, resulting in the sector being Peru’s fastest expanding economic activity, by posting double-digit growth rates in the past few months.
