Informal real estate market for housing at Recife Metropolitan Region: an initial approach

The book Producción inmobiliaria y reestruturación metropolitana en América Latina was published by Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile and Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo, and edited by Paulo Cesar Xavier Pereira and Rodrigo Hidalgo. The book aims to inquiry about the different influences on the real estate re-struturation that models present Latin American metropolises. Moreover, it intends to give a broad picture of the discussion among researchers, professionals, and academics from several disciplines which are interested on urban studies in different Latin American countries. It is an expression of the necessary debate between the Iberic American world that speaks Portuguese and Spanish, in order to comprehend Latin American reality, which differences and similarities need to be urgently addressed to construct a theory for explaining (not excluding what happens in the rest of the world) its own reality.


The chapter Funcionamento do mercado de habitações nas áreas pobres da Região Metropolitana do Recife: uma primeira aproximação, written by Norma Lacerda, Júlia Morim, and Mauro Barros Filho, aims to contribute on the discussion about the operational mechanisms of the informal real estate market in a set of poor areas of Recife Metropolitan Region (RMR), based on the preliminary results of a questionnaire applied in such areas. These results were presented and discussed considering the similarities and specificities of the informal real estate market in relation to the theory which fundaments the formal one. In this context, the investigation presents: (i) the reasons why to invest on the understanding of informal real estate market; (ii) the dimensions of the poor areas in RMR; (iii) the criteria which help on the selection of the poor areas; (iv) and the interpretation of the answers to the questions address to their inhabitants. The results permit the identification of the main elements which delineate the operational mechanisms of the informal real estate market.