Author: Andres Lopez Merida
Corporate Head – LatinAlliance Guatemala
For 15 years in Guatemala, the real estate area has been one of the sectors that reflects great growth and dynamism. The statistics reaffirm this fact, since there has been a growth of almost 6% during the last year in the construction sector, in addition to GDP growth.
All this contributes a notable internal economic reactivation and development to the sector, undoubtedly relevant actions for the general economy of the country.
According to data from the Bank of Guatemala, the data on square meters of construction in 2018 exceeded 850 thousand. In 2019, this figure was close to 700; for 2020, they were projected even more in the total square meters of area under construction.
Another revealed fact is that many of these projects belong to buildings within the Horizontal Property legal institution, of medium and high length. These will mainly impact the urban area with residential characteristics within the Capital City, an example of this, zones 10, 11, 14, 15, 16 and the Carretera a El Salvador area.
On the other hand, factors such as the orography of certain sectors does not allow construction of this type to continue, this translates into a lower supply of projects despite the existing demand.
Another extremely important aspect is the environmental and road impact represented by the saturation of projects in urban areas, since many of these move away from high-cost plans, approaching projects for the middle and/or lower-middle class sector. This offers alternatives to people who could only quote a house in the peripheries, but who at the same time need a more comfortable and central option for reasons of mobility and distance to their workplaces.
There are real estate projects of a comprehensive concept or mixed use. Here housing, recreation and commerce are integrated; These do not represent a considerable number yet, but their growth is expected in the coming years.
Some real estate agents and players in the real estate sector point to the growth of projects adapting to the lifestyle of people as the main focus and it is what will be seen in construction trends in the coming years.
As examples of mixed-use projects, we can mention AVIA, located in zone 10. This integrates office spaces, tourism; by having a hotel, recreation and housing area soon.
In the same way, Vistares, located in zone 12 of the Capital City, there is a shopping center that will be attached to a vertical housing tower to be built soon.
In the interior of the country, there are also projects that aim to decentralize the construction of the metropolitan area, giving access to innovative places of commerce; because visitors have become to a great extent more knowledgeable and demanding with the services that are found there. This can be found in the renovation and investment that many developers have made to their existing shopping centers in the departments of the interior, without counting the new projects on the horizon, both in the west and in the east of the country.
Despite all the projects mentioned above, the reality is that there is an unsatisfied housing deficit, which continues to be an outstanding debt in Guatemala, so projects with a focus on popular housing will also see a rebound in the coming years, both within like outside the capital city. It is estimated that more than one hundred projects will be executed in the future.
For more information contact the author of this article: alopez@latinalliance.co