I-movel develops affordable housing projects for investors who want to tap the middle class housing boom in Brazil.

It has packaged and streamlined all know-how required, optimizing the projects for investors so they get the best possible risk-reward ratio.

This way, investors get a hands-off investment that allows them to enjoy the exceptional margins and rotation of real estate development in Brazil.

Local contractors, licenced to operate under i-movel standards, provide flexibility and scaleability; while getting the resources they lacked to build volume in this profitable and quickly growing market.

And of course, home buyers get more value for money too, with better homes for a very sharp price.

Low income housing projects - "Minha Casa Minha Vida". 4 floors and 16 apartments per block, sold for prices as low as R$99000. Construction cost around R$60000/unit.

Middle class housing - individual homes; sold for prices between R$130-190000. Construction cost around R$65000.

House financing for the middle class

In 2010, about 62% of the average home purchase was financed - up from 47% in 2004.

Banks (Bradeso, HSBC, Santander Real, Itau) usually finance 80% of the property's appraisal value, while government-related banks like Banco do Brasil and Caixa Economica Federal go up to 90%.

What these numbers do not show is the growth in the amount of loans extended. In 2004, 54000 loans were extended representing only R$3 billlion. In the first ten monhts of 2010, that number rose to 342,000 and... R$45 billion.

Although banks now offer loans of up to 30 years (and these are often contracted), Brazilians typically tend to pay off their loans early, using end of year bonuses and their improving economical situation.

At the Caixa, e.g., the average contract period is 19 years - but the average payback period is only 13 years in 9 months.

In other words - although the market is growing fast, there is still an enormous room for growth - and there is not even a hint of a bubble. Clients still put at least 20% of the property down and tend to pay their debts ahead of time. Banks do not allow customers to spend more than 30% of their proven income on their loan service, and as they have put 20% of the property price down, customers are not likely to default on their loans.

How different is that with the situation elsewhere...?

Credit in Brazil - general

Total credit operations in Brazil totalled R$380 billions in 2002 - but already R$1.6 trillion in 2010.

The first telltale sign of that I noticed three years ago, when my cleaning lady proudly announced she had bought a PC for her studying 16 year old daughter.

Two years ago, she suddenly showed up at work with a new Ford Fiesta - bought with a five year credit.

Since then, I have changed cleaning ladies so I don't know what else happened.

But... last April, my current cleaning lady bought herself an apartment, through the My House, My Life program.

She earns about R$1200 a month (twice the minimum salary). But her son - a deaf young man who goes to a normal school accompanied by a government-paid sign language translator (!) - also earns about R$700 filling racks in the local Walmart.

Together, they make about $1100 - and that's enough to service the loan for their brand new 60m2 apartment.

2010 demographics

The latest demographic study - 2010, completely executed with handheld computers and published just days after its completion - shows a Brazil with 190.732.694 million inhabitants. Although growth has dramatically slowed down to a pace of 1% per year, this is still a young country, with half of the population below 29 years.

The average household is 3.3 persons; slightly less in the south but up to 4 in the poorer north/northeast.

Almost 85% of Brazilians now lives in urban areas; two thirds of Brazilians live in towns with 50000 or more inhabitants.