How the Poor and Foreigners Can Own a House in Brazil
HAVANA TIMES – The vast majority of immigrants in Brazil live in rented homes. Owning a house is not easy. That’s why approximately one-fifth of the Brazilian population also lives in rental housing.
However, acquiring a home of your own is not impossible, even with limited resources. Brazil has some options that make it easier to obtain housing and reduce the financial burden it entails.
The big opportunity comes from the “Minha Casa, Minha Vida” (My House, My Life) program, created by the federal government to help disadvantaged families.
There are several ways to access it. The only major requirement is to be Brazilian or a foreigner with permanent residency in the country, and of course, to have a provable source of income.
While Venezuelans obtain residency relatively easily due to migration agreements between Venezuela and Brazil, for Cubans this status usually takes between 3 to 5 years.
The easiest — and also the most expensive — way to enter the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program is to contact one of the many real estate agencies that work through this government program. They offer beautiful apartments or houses in prime locations in the city.
With these agencies, a small apartment can cost up to 300,000 reais (about 50,000 dollars), including the down payment. They give you the option to pay that down payment in installments — around 1,000 reais a month over two years — without yet living in the property.
During that time, you’ll also still be paying rent where you currently live, so you’ll need to be financially prepared for that burden.
Once the building or condo is finished, they hand you the keys, you move in and start paying the remainder over roughly 28 more years in monthly installments similar to rent — but without the extra rental cost.
The second option is to contact a homeowner directly who’s selling their house. You can find significantly cheaper deals this way. The price can be under 100,000 reais (about 17,000 dollars), and there’s the possibility of requesting financing for part of the amount through Banco Caixa (the main government bank).
The downside here is that there are far fewer listings, and sellers usually want a 20% to 30% cash down payment of the total property value.
The third and most affordable option is through COHAB (Popular Housing Company), which manages public housing policies across Brazil. With a simple registration, you become eligible for home financing under much more manageable monthly terms. The drawback is that the available housing is generally located far from the city center.
In addition to that, your turn may take years to arrive because your place on the list will depend on your family’s actual situation — based on income level, number of dependents, and other specific conditions like health issues, vulnerability, etc.
There’s another less common, but still viable option, which requires some initial investment and advanced masonry skills. You can buy a plot of land and build your own house. This isn’t Cuba, the stores are full of building materials.