Three years ago, the Government launched mortgage loans based on the Purchase Value Unit (UVA), which adjust according to the evolution of the Price Index and the cost of construction.In this way, the administration of Mauricio Macri "scored a bean" in the middle class, since this modality originally offered the possibility that the monthly payment has a value close to that of a rent.
This meant approximately half of a share of conventional fixed-rate loans. It also required justifying lower income for the approval of a mortgage.
The response did not take long to arrive: month after month, the sector reported the increases in sales transactions, with UVA mortgages leveraging more than half of the transactions.
It lasted little. In April the illusion of many Argentines was pulverized. The dollar began its climb and ended the year doubling its price. Already in 2019, inflation closed at 3.8% in February and exceeded 51% year-on-year.
This impacted fully on the UVA credits: the unit started 2018 at $ 21.15 and ended at $ 31.06. That is, he experienced a rise of almost 50%. As a result, mortgages indexed by inflation ceased to have a leading role in a lackluster market.
According to figures from the Association of Notaries Public, sales operations collapsed 55% year-on-year in January, while the share of home loans plummeted 88% in the same period.
Given this scenario, Government and real estate chambers try to inject some dynamism into the sector. And they have resorted to technology to lower the cost of financing trusts, a mechanism used to acquire properties "from the well".President Macri himself was in charge of presenting the Electronic Real Estate Ticket, accompanied by the Secretary of Housing, Ivan Kerr, who remarked the objectives of the initiative:
- Promote the construction of housing
- Promote the area in an average sector that today does not access bank credit
- Sell from the well and lower the final cost
"A person who buys a pit department gets a ticket that only serves as a receipt for what he paid and must keep it between his papers." From now on, the sales ticket will be able to register and banks can give credit for it. Paying your real estate investment from the well, "says Armando Pepe, president of the Real Estate Brokers Association of the City of Buenos Aires.What does it consist of
The Electronic Real Estate Ticket is included within the Distance Platform (TAD) of the national government, in which more than 1,300 transactions can be made.
The idea is for the developer to enter the units he will build through the "digital window" of the TAD. In turn a real estate broker will be responsible for offering them to those who are interested in buying them, who may have bank financing. Always from an online platform, reducing costs and avoiding intermediaries."The first benefit that the end user will have is to be able to acquire a home from a well at a lower price", assured iProUP Alejandro Bennazar, president of the Argentine Real Estate Chamber.
In this sense, the executive remarks that "the developer will save the costs of a 'bridge loan' and the reduction of other taxes."
This will result in lower expenses associated with the property. In effect, according to Bennazar, between 8 and 11 percent of the final price corresponds to expenses, commissions and other items. With this scheme, the idea is to reduce them.
As all the operations will be online, the times will also be shortened, so the buyer will be less exposed to the volatility of the dollar.
In addition, it will be able to count on more accessible credits, since they will be in charge of the banks, that offer longer terms and more convenient rates than the traditional "minicuotas" of the constructors.
"There are several private and public banks" interested in being the first to offer them, says Bennazar, who adds that the financing will have "mortgage conditions, not mortgages, and there is no asset that acts as a guarantee".The expert assures that in no more than 90 days the first electronic real estate ticket will be signed and Macri himself will be in charge of announcing it.
Without good in the start only the city of Buenos Aires will have this initiative, sources of the sector assure that the most populated provinces of the country are already folding.Everything, 100% online
Much of the cost and time savings is related to the fact that all operations will be carried out from a web platform.
From Lakout, the Argentine technological behind this system, they assure that the process of approval of the projects by the authorities will be progressively reduced until three months, against the year that delays the traditional method.
"What we develop is a documentary manager through which real estate projects are going to circulate, we are working to enter a blockchain platform", explains Daniel Raskin, commercial director of the firm, in dialogue with iProUP.
The executive adds that the digital ticket will allow the traceability of the project, which will enter the platform "through a registered broker, who is the one who will make the functional units viable".
"Then, the financial entities that will qualify the work under construction as 'eligible credit' will enter, when the buyer signs the ticket, the real estate agent will load all the documentation required by the entity," Raskin said, adding that "there are three private banks and three public "enrolled.The main novelty of this system is, in addition, that the process can be carried out 100% online, without the interested party acquiring the property from the developer's office, the real estate office or the bank.
"As is 'to be done' and there is no department to visit, the consumer can choose to see the plans and the renders that are uploaded to the document manager," says the executive, who points out that real estate companies can connect their own platform to offer the properties and "close" the online circuit.
Only the digital ticket will have to be prepared, which will include pre-established clauses, to which the particularities of the functional unit will be added. All the actors must sign it digitally.
Subsequently, the buyer will have to pay 25% of the ticket, which will be sent via the website to the Real Estate Property Registry for registration. This will avoid having a "multiple ticket", something that happened when a unit had more than one ticket, since being a private contract, there was no registration.
For its part, the developer will receive from the bank or financial institution the corresponding contribution for the progress of work, without the need for an intermediate loan (known as a "bridge"). You must pay compulsory surety insurance that protects the buyer against any failure to develop.
It will only subtract the end of the work and its approval to proceed to the signing of the deed of sale and registration in the registry, with the intervention of a notary public.Other online procedures
As iProUP would say, there are more than 1,300 transactions that can be made on the tramitesadistancia.gob.ar platform, in which the electronic Real Estate Ticket also works.The system has more than 2 million files tracked and, on average, a procedure initiated delays 55% less than in its "traditional" version.
So far, more than 2 million steps have been taken, the most common being:
- Renewal of Web Domains: registration of common domains of Internet.com.ar
- Automatic registration of the Single Registry of the Ministry of Production
- Certifications of marketable products
- Exception and Registration Provider (SIPRO) - Legal Entities
"The procedures that are carried out by entry desk take around 95 days, while those made through the platform take 33", reveal sources of Modernization to iProUP.In addition, they explain that the internal face of TAD is the Electronic Document Management System (EDM), which works in all national ministries and 168 agencies.
"The Electronic Document Management System is functioning in all national ministries and 168 public agencies, generating savings of more than $ 2,000 million," they complete from the portfolio.