Real Estate Dynamics and Cities: Monitoring and Evaluation

This panel opens a debate on the real estate dynamics that are shaping urbanization. It presents evidence of how the production of Brazilian cities has been marked by inequality in access to adequate housing, the volatility of real estate markets, the insufficiency of housing policies—and by the lack of systematic knowledge about these processes. Such dynamics demand a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that drive real estate markets and proper monitoring of their functioning. Recent disruptive transformations—such as the Global Financial Crisis, COVID-19, international conflicts, and the new urban challenges posed by technological change—are part of this context. Studying the relationship between real estate prices and macro-phenomena sheds light on these processes. Therefore, adequate monitoring of real estate dynamics through official real estate price indexes becomes increasingly necessary. The panel will present: a) An overview of the macro-determinants of real estate dynamics at multiple scales, along with recent evidence highlighting different pathways and mechanisms at play between centers and peripheries; b) Results from the systematization of data on real estate markets covering all urban areas of the country, together with the development of new analytical perspectives to support the interpretation of national urbanization processes; c) The importance of official real estate price indexes, built on the basis of hedonic models.