President of the São Paulo Construction Industry Syndicate Sergio Watanbe at a recent ‘Business Round Up 2012 Perspectives’ event (in line with the American Chamber of Commerce) has predicted that Brazil’s property building sector will see an average growth level of between 4 and 5 percent for the next 5 years.

His statements were reinforced by his belief that the industry remains a solid long term investment – supported by firmly expected rises in incomes and programmes such as the Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My Life) – despite the issues which have affected 2011 production levels, mainly related to labour shortages.  However, he also stated that – in comparison to Brazil’s unemployment rate being at between 6 and 6.5 percent – the rate in the building sector is currently 3 percent.  Between January and August of this year, the sector contracted 9 percent more workers compared to the same period in 2010 – this performance looks likely to remain in 2012. He continued on to comment: “All this growth has brought a staggering problem for construction which will require a change in how businesses are managed whilst also intensifying the use of technology because even low skill labour is in scarce supply.”

Watanbe also believes that the crises in Europe and the USA will have little effect on the positive patterns of growth in Brazil.

Ruban Selvanayagam www.brazilinvestmentguide.com