Social housing, the great challenge of nearshoring in housing matters: Banco Inmobiliario Mexicano

The effect of relocation of companies, known as nearshoringand from which Mexico has benefited due to its proximity to the United States, has begun to move the housing industry; however, the great challenge will be building for the social segmentwhich has practically disappeared from the plans of the developers.

According to Gregorio Sánchez, Corporate Business Director of Banco Inmobiliario Mexicano (BIM), developers are optimistic about the issue of nearshoringespecially in regions where this effect accentuates the arrival of new companies, such as the northern border and the Bajío.

“You have to be attentive depending on the area of ​​the country, we are turning to see the nearshoringwhich will not only generate industry and jobs that are important, but the people, the workers, have to live and we have, as actors, to look at how we finance housing for those workers,” Sánchez explained in an interview.

The BIM manager emphasized that the challenge lies in the social housingwhich has decreased its participation in recent years with respect to the total number of homes that are built year after year, since it will be these types of spaces that have more demand due to the effect of nearshoring.

“Obviously they will not be workers who have a high purchasing power, therefore, among all of us we have to see how we build social interest housing so that these sources have a place to live, where to make their assets,” said Sánchez.

According to Unique Housing Registryduring the first four months of the year 38,218 registered houses in productionof which 37% was worth up to 585,017 pesos, while the majority, 61%, is worth between 1 and 2 million pesos.

Benefited areas

BIM has begun its territorial tour, in which bank executives visit different parts of the country to publicize its operations bridging loan and listen to the needs of their customers, who are housing developers.

According to Sánchez, in the two events that the bank has held so far this year, the developers are optimistic about the issue of nearshoringespecially since they are from regions like Culiacán, Sinaloa and Monterrey, Nuevo León.

“Surely (for the nearshoring) in the part of the northern border there will be a lot of demand for the housing constructionin the Bajío part the same, because it is already an important region in terms of services and assemblers” Sánchez said.

According to the manager, one of the bank’s advantages is that, in the 10 years of its operation, the institution has strengthened its presence on the northern border, which is the region where the issue of nearshoring.

“Developers are preparing with the new arrival of the industry so that they also have the possibility of having land and services to do the living place“.

good quarter

For this year, BIM plans to allocate around 12,000 million pesos in bridging loan for him housing development. According to Sánchez, during the first quarter of the year, the bank placed a total of 2.7 billion pesos, which gives a favorable outlook for the rest of 2023.

“We are very optimistic for the remainder of the year, there are some indicators against it, the part of inflation continues to be high, we continue to see the reference rate still high… The bank is doing very well in the first quarter, it is the best first quarter in the history of the bank”, pointed out the BIM executive.

Although Sánchez highlighted that there are still some indicators that play against the housing industrysuch as inflation and the rise in interest rates, there are others that keep the direction of the industry positive during the year.

“The interest rates offered by commercial banks for mortgage loans remain stable, some banks have lowered their interest rates, that is important because the banks as a whole finance more than Infonavit itself, that is important,” he explained.

During this year, the bank plans to hold around 17 meetings in different parts of the country to explain its business model and be close to the developers who are its clients.