NewsWhore
07-16-2008, 03:40 PM
Ester Jimenez has been living in Villa Mella for eight years. She purchased her apartment for RD$700,000 in 2000, and now her cousin Minerva wants to live near her, but Minerva will need three times that amount. Like many others, Minerva is finding that it is practically impossible to purchase a home. Price increases from 20% up to 186% have been recorded, and the new prices have dramatically slowed the purchase of new homes. Other factors besides prices have led to the slump. For instance, El Caribe reports that just a few months ago a mortgage would cover as much as 85% of the cost of a home, and today, with difficulty, a prospective buyer might find a lender willing to cover 70% of the value of a new house. Another factor is the interest rate lenders are charging homebuyers: from 11% just a year ago, the rate in many places is now up to 20% or 22% APR. Former UASD rector Porfirio Garcia Fernandez warned that the mortgage crisis currently affecting the United States could also occur in the Dominican Republic if the banks were not cautious. El Caribe consulted several builders and Savings and Loan Associations and the general consensus was that a family needed to put 25% of their income towards payments on the purchase of a new house.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#13)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#13)