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“The local mortgage-backed bond market makes up 42% of Mexico’s capital markets. That is comparable to Europe and the US” Maria Tapia, Standard & Poor’s |
FOR WEALTHY AMERICANS and Europeans, real estate in Mexico conjures up thoughts of stunning Caribbean beach houses and mountain-top retirement haciendas. For millions of working-class and middle-class Mexicans, though, four walls, a roof and a few tasteful furnishings are more than sufficient. However, for years obtaining even a simple home has been hugely difficult because of a lack of financing. Houses were built room by room, funded by hard-won savings and with luxuries such as plaster and tiled floors postponed almost indefinitely.
Things have changed for the better – now a fast-growing residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) market is generating an unprecedented flow of capital for an ever faster-growing housing market, giving Mexicans another way to construct their homes and opening a lucrative route into Latin America for international investors. Ever since Mexico’s first $54 million RMBS issuance in 2003, the market has flourished to become one of the biggest successes of the 2000-06 term of president Vicente Fox, who made the push for construction and financing of more affordable houses one of his flagship domestic policies.