Hello, and welcome to the Latin America Weekly newsletter! In this issue: how home ownership is becoming more exclusive in the region. The struggles of Argentina’s right-wing. Uruguay’s violence wave. And the latest with Chile’s Constitution.
Home ownership a distant dream for millions of Latin Americans
During the pandemic crisis, the gap between extreme wealth and extreme poverty and the vulnerability that has come to define Latin America has widened. One of the results is the further restriction of access to home ownership in the region.
Why it matters. Home ownership is one of the single most important drivers of wealth generation and financial security.
By the numbers. In the region’s top five economies, a standard 60-square meter middle-class house can be worth between USD 73,000 and USD 206,000, according to research from the Finance Research Centre at Argentina’s Torcuato Di Tella University (CIF).
- In none of these countries, however, the monthly minimum wage tops the USD 400 mark.
Herculean task. Without accounting for interests, a standard home costs between 290 and 563 times the minimum wage — which is what hundreds of millions in the region earn at best, considering that informal workers, who account for 70 percent of...