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Top per sq. meter prices in 10 major Colombia cities

Real estate prices are always a hot topic with the posters of PBH.

What follows is a Spanish to English translation of a Feb.3,07 article, which appeared in Spanish, in the popular Cartagena newspaper: eltiempo.com / economia
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Colombia´s most expensive realty is Cartagena´s Historic Centro, which sells for up to: 6 million Pesos per square meter.

Castillogrande, in Cartagena, a peninsula surrounded by the Caribbean, is the second most expensive area in Colombia, where the per square meter cost reaches 5 million Pesos!

This information is reported by Flavio Romero, President of the Architects' Society of Colombia (Bolivar State), who performed a recent study of houses/apartments for sale, and sold in Cartagena.

Only The Cabrera, north of Bogota, where per square meter costs can reach up to 4.500.000 Pesos, are sales prices similar to Cartagena and Castillogrande.

The historic Old Walled City of Cartagena has changed from the days when two buildings in ruins, The Santa Clara, and The Santa Teresa were completely renovated in the mid 90´s, into what are now, popular five star hotels.

In the recent past, properties in Historic Centro, were recognized and purchased by many foreigners, as world treasures of the Spanish conquests in America. They bought cheap houses, in ruins, restored them, and spent their vacations living in Cartagena. The foreigners added their money into the economy, and joined with powerful Colombian families and personalities, to begin the restoration of the Historical Center.

Obviously, the major popularity of Cartagena must be attributed to the Historic Old City. Outside the cities ancient walls, there´s a construction boom that locals say is without precedent. Currently, 67 projects, totaling 6,000 housing units, are in some phase of design or construction.

Many residents and recent buyers in Castillogrande are foreigners, mostly from Spain and Italy. They are enchanted with the ambiance and lifestyle. They are buying apartments for vacations, or to give to their Colombian wives or fiancees.

There are those who also attribute the continuation of Cartagena´s housing boom with the supposed imminent arrival of the multimillionaire Donald Trump. Many believed Trump would invest in Barú, but Luis Hoyos García, president of the local Real Estate Association, says that construction is slowly shifting, over the last seven years, away from the high strata areas.

THE ATTRACTIONS OF OTHER CITIES

If the history of Cartagena, and love of the Caribbean Sea are major attractions, the closeness with nature or with commercial zones are equal attractions, for many, who buy and live in the other major cities in Colombia.

As an example of living close to nature, is the area known as the: Cabecera del Llano, in Bucaramanga, which is a forest reservation. In Ibagué, prices for the most expensive housing, reache 1.400.000 Pesos per square meter. In The Vergel, is a popular neighborhood with a sector of commercial development.

As the correspondents of this newspaper reported about the 10 cities of Colombia, they note that the construction boom is the result of greater availability of credit.

Price increases are fueled by the increase in money movement within each of Colombia´s major 10 cities.

BARRANQUILLA-THE MOST ECONOMICAL CITY PER SQUARE METER

Of Colombia´s four principal cities (Bogota, Medellin, Cali and Barranquilla) the largest city along the Atlantic Ocean, Barranquilla, is the one city which offers the lowest quoted costs per square meter at: 1.650.000 Pesos.

Rossana Pezzano, the manager of Camacol Caribe, a developers association attributes this to: "scarce personal purchasing power. 80% of the population earns less than four times Colombia´s minimal salary", he says. In fact, rising housing prices are extending to popular locations of even the smaller cities, like Manizales and Pereira, where the highest square meter costs are 1.800.000 Pesos. In Risaralda, builders attribute the rise in prices to the influx of remittances from Colombians living and working in foreign countries.

MEDELLIN AND CALI ARE ALSO EXPERIENCING SIMILAR PRICES.

Another point of interest is Bucaramanga, where per square meter costs follow those in Cartagena and Bogota. Observers suggest some of this activity is funded from illegal sources.

"In our market there is no housing available in the 800.000 to 1.000.000 Peso range. It´s no secret that there are unusual sources of money entering the housing market", affirms Liborio Plata, President of the Market of Santander.

Even the costly and rising housing prices in Colombia, do not reach the higher prices of many other Latin-American cities.

IN THE HEROIC CITY OF CARTAGENA, FOREIGNERS REPRESENT AN INCREASING NUMBER OF BUYERS.

The plan of Fedelonjas is to turn the northern strip of Cartagena, along the sea, and leading to Barranquilla, into a large, high-end development center, catering to investors that today are discovering Central America. In a few years, more than 70,000,000 (seventy million) U.S. baby boomers will retire. Many will discover, along with the Europeans, many of whom who are already here, the beauty and low cost lifestyle of the Caribbean Sea, all along Colombia´s northern coast.

Bolivar State, with the capital in Cartagena, annually attracts tens of thousands of ocean cruise line vacationers from countries in Europe, and mostly the United States. According to the calculations of the Architect's Society of Colombia (Bolivar State), 25% of Cartagena house and apartment buyers are foreign.
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For one Cartagena realty company. which promotes exclusively on the Internet, the figure is greater than 90%!(see DISCLAIMER, below)
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Juliano Stefanini, an Italian, says that he bought in Cartagena´s Old City because: "it´s like Venice surrounded by water". He thinks that in South America, there is no other city that can compair".

THE ADVANTAGES OF MOBILITY, ADDS TO THE HOUSING COSTS OF BOGOTA.

The oft given reason as to why Bogota realty goes for 4.500.000 Pesos per square meter in the high strata (Strata 6) northern area known as The Cabrera, is the ease of commuting to other places of the Capital City.

"The people are mobility conscious and aware of the time savings provided by good transportation services. If they live in The Cabrera, and are employed at the International Center, they are home in 20 minutes for lunch with the family. When living in areas known as Chicó or Rosales the time is only 10 minutes. Less time on the road means a higher degree of personal safety and more time with family, all of which promotes an over-all higher standard of living for the entire family", affirms appraiser Óscar Borrero.

Traditionally these sectors have been costly, and now values increase because the high rise apartments are permitted up to 12 floors, and in Chicó 8 floors.

The most recent study of the Bogota indicates that the existing re-sale market is going for 2.200.000 Pesos per square meter.

Like in other capital cities, the closeness to commercial centers is increasing the demand, and thus the per square foot costs. The disadvantage, says Borrero, is the fact that the above mentioned areas lack large area parks. The green space trade-off is the savings of time and stress, which for many, tips the balance toward increasing demand met by increasing prices.

Another housing option in the Capital City is to live in popular rural places such as Guaymaral, Altos de Yerbabuena or Aposentos, accessed at the exit to Tunja. In municipalities such as Chía and Sopó, the cost of living further out is higher because of toll roads, increased gas costs, and the ever more precious element of: time to get back and forth to Bogota.

According to real estate professionals in the Capital, the tendencies are: families with small children choose to live outside the city, families with college age children perfer to live in the city, and when the children leave the house, the parents want to return to the country side.

BUCARAMANGA, THE CAPITAL CITY OF SANTANDER, IN DISTRICT NORORIENTE

In Santander the boom in construction activity, east of the city, fetches 2.800.000 Pesos per square meter. Currently more than twelve apartment towers are under construction.

Taking the character as: The Capital City of The Northeast, Bucaramanga attracts landowners, stockbreeders and businessmen in the agro industries located to the South of Cesar, and Bolivar, to the the Northeast of Antioquia, and to the North, Santander and Arauca, who turn into buyer clients of the luxurious projects in the city.

Real estate experts think that once those luxury complexes are finished, the city will not see anymore costly building developments.

MEANWHILE, IN PEREIRA (RISARALDA STATE)

the areas known as Pinares, Alamos , and Los Alpes, in the Northeast, are leading the market with the most expensive per square meter costs of 1.800.000 Pesos, as well as increasing costs in the Center. Native Risaraladans, who live abroad, are boosting the housing market with their purchases. They represent 15.6%, or about 260,000 persons, of the total population of the State.

In Manizales the west area boasts the highest cost of housing in areas like Palermo and Sancancio.

TRADITIONAL AREAS, EXPENSIVE LOCATIONS IN MEDELLIN AND CALI.

Medellin continues as one of the costliest cities to live. In El Poblado, a square meter costs up to 2.400.000 Pesos. This area, located in the southwest of the city, has evolved into alternate city center, with a strong concentration of: commercial, educational, financial, and tourist related activities and services.

La Loma de los Bernal, in the Southeast, has had a construction boom in recent years, and is another expensive housing area with apartments selling for as much as 2.200.000 a square meter.

Traditional Laureles Estadio ,in the east, continues to be a preferred and growing place to live.

ALSO IN CALI

Ciudad Jardin, in the South, maintains its popularity as one of the most desired locations. In fact, the capital city, Valle, is spreading towards this sector, because there is still available land for development. Currently they are selling 66 housing projects. Normandia, in the west, is another exclusive sector, but, in contrast to the south, suitable land for development is scarce. Currently there are only 13 projects underway. The president of the Realtors Association, Federico O'Byrne, affirms that in Cali, prices have not risen because good building locations remain readily available.
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DISCLAIMER: The following single line quote is factual and appears in this independent translated version of the El Tiempo article as: "For one Cartagena realty company that promotes exclusively on the Internet, the figure is greater than 90%!"

This supporting information has been added to, and is NOT a part of the original El Tiempo article.

By jmbone on Feb 7, 2007, 08:21 in Renting, selling & meetups.

Robert Jorge says on Feb 7, 2007, 09:07:

Thanks for that article. Interesting.

--"I believe in making the world safe for our children. But not for our children's children, because I don't think that children should be having sex." - Jack Handy

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Tinto (Moderator) says on Feb 7, 2007, 12:23:

a person mentioned in the article: Flavio Romero, Architect.

I bet he gets the chicks.

0 funny, 0 helpful.