Housing cost rises 10% in DR due to rising dollar

With the coronavirus pandemic, the cost of housing under construction has increased by nearly 10%, due to the rise in the prices of materials, according to the president of the Association of Home Builders and Developers (Acoprovi), Susy Gatón.

The construction materials that have experienced the highest increases are cement, steel, concrete, mortars, and blocks.

According to Gatón, the rise in the dollar is the cause of the rise in prices in this sector, which she regretted, since the builders import 40% of the finishing materials.

“By raising the dollar we have to boost supply and demand by lowering rates on interim loans and lines of credit. The State has to lower the rate to 6%, not with the reserve allowance subsidy, but with paying the corresponding subsidies to the banks,” she recommended.

Hardware stores say

The president of the Association of Hardware Stores, Arturo Espinal, said that the sector he represents knew that prices would increase due to the rise in the dollar, but they did not expect the percentage to skyrocket more in materials.

He stated that cement rose around RD $ 40 a case. The rods rose by about 12%. Plumbing and plastic pipes increased by about 30%, and light hardware, such as tools and hardware, shot up by 35%. “This increase is not in correlation with what really happened with the dollar,” since the hardware sector lost about RD $ 22 billion during the closure of commercial activities by Covid-19,” Espinal said.

They support the emergency measure

Both Susi Gatón, president of Acoprovi, and Arturo Espinal, from the hardware stores, support the extension of a new state of national emergency in the face of the spread of the coronavirus, but they do so under the proviso that the builders and hardware workers have complied with all sanitary measures to avoid contagion.