08/27/2008 17h25
Real State companies grow and change market
Valor Econômico - 08/27/2008
Real State construction in Brazil has never been so strong. In different stages and for different people, the success or failure of this flood of new buildings that the companies launch almost every day in the market, more than R$ 30 billion (US$ 17.1 million) - since the beginning of 2007 - are in the hands of a segment that has never had so much prestige: the real state companies and their army of brokers. The setting changed and so did those companies. In order to accompany the new reality, they were forced to professionalize themselves and build a network with national reach. The moment is good and no one wants to stay out of it. The real state market experiments now the boom that happened to the building companies and developers two years ago. With a great advantage: they do not have the risk of the business and have a minimum sunk cost, since the professionals do not have any bonds with the companies and are 100% commissioned. On one hand, companies that opened capital, such as Lopes and Brasil Brokers, which acquired Abyara, dispute the market with traditional companies of closed capital such as Fernandez Mera and Coelho da Fonseca. On the other hand, international players, such as American chain Century 21 and the traditional auction house Sotheby's invest to gain their space. Despite the distinct ways - Lopes is 70 years old and BR Brokers is new - both that opted for the financial market follow the same path: to invest the funds raised in the stock exchange in the opening of new branches and acquisition of small companies all over Brazil. And it could not be different. One of the repercussions of the stock rush was the national expansion of the building companies. If they wanted to keep up with this moment they would have to follow the new geographic configuration. The changes, however, are deeper. There were years of a disorganized and fragmented market, that now needs to prove efficient. Those that have not chosen to go public are also growing. Fernandez Mera is doubling its size this year. It is going from a sales volume of R$ 1.2 billion (US$ 621.8 million) to R$ 2.5 billion (US$ 1.6 billion) in 2008 and it is opening new offices in the interior of São Paulo. American Century 21, one of the biggest chain of real state agencies in the world and present in more than 60 countries, runs in the outside. It should open between 10 and 15 franchises until the end of the year and reach to the ambitious mark of 100 franchises until the end of 2009. It bets on bringing some different things to Brazil, such as the public deed insurance, which covers possible mistakes in documentation, as well as possible third-party's interventions which question the documents' validity. Besides the launchings, the real state companies have started to work with used real state - a market that has always been in the hands of the small brokers and even of single professionals - and which only tends to grow. At some moment, people will leave the place they live to change to the new apartments that are becoming ready. "This is the future of the real state market", says Gonzalo Fernandez, of Fernandez Mera.
