Tijuana points to the reconversion of spaces to generate a greater supply of housing

TijuanaBaja California, lives a particular moment in real estate matterbecause the investments that have landed in the region, the increase in prices in the living place in the United States and the domestic housing demand, are factors that have accelerated the real estate market; however, given the lack of availability of spaces, reconversion can be a way out to meet the needs of this city.

According to Maricela Pereyra, Vice President of Communication of the Mexican Association of Real Estate Professionals (AMPI), among the main factors that have driven the housing market of Tijuana is the abrupt rise in prices in San Diego, California, in the United States, which has made people who live in the American city look for options on the Mexican side to invest in the housing segment.

“Many of the people who live in San Diego prefer to invest in Tijuana due to two factors: economically speaking, the price of goods is lower (compared to the United States) and because the border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego has many crossings a year and that gives a very important push in terms of investments,” said Pereyra in the framework of the AMPI congress held in the border city.

In this sense, the AMPI directive highlighted that, for example, in the area of ​​Playas de Tijuanathere are options of living place close to 3 million pesos, which, in San Diego, that is unattainable, since the average housing value is located at 899,000 dollars, that is, around 18 million pesos.

However, one of the great challenges that the city is experiencing is the inventory available to market, since there is greater demand and less supply, prices tend to increase, in a context where the values ​​of construction supplies have also increased. important.

According to data from the Federal Mortgage Society, the price middle of the house In Baja California, it stood at 1.4 million pesos at the end of the first half of the year, which contrasts with its construction data, since from January to August 2022, only 617 homes were registered in production in the state.

“At the national level, the supply of living place it is below demand… There is not enough housing and this gap instead of shrinking will grow, the value of land is through the roof, so for developers there is no way they can get cheap land “, highlighted the representative of AMPI.

Other options

In this scenario, Pereyra commented that one of the solutions proposed for the market of Tijuana it is the reconversion of spaces, as has been promoted in cities such as Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City, in order to reuse real estate for housing in them.

“There is the reconversion that are spaces that in one way or another are already there, that is, office spaces, industrial warehouses or other types of current construction that were not originally considered as living place and that a reconversion be carried out so that the housing development“, he highlighted.

Pereyra recognized that these processes of reconversion of spaces are slow, but it is one of the most viable alternatives in the current context that has affected the housing industry.

“Local, state and federal authorities would have to reach out to support these people or companies that are betting on closing the housing demand and they are betting their money, but they need the support of the authorities to be able to get these projects out,” he said.