The informal housing market in Colônia Juliano Moreira, Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Given the increasing urbanization and expansion of the urban-real estate frontier over the territory of the metropolises, this paper analyzes the informal housing market in the Colônia Juliano Moreira neighborhood of the Jacarepaguá region, west of Rio de Janeiro. We investigated the characteristics of this market as to its structure, the transacted properties, the participating institutions, and the participating agents. This analysis uses real estate listing data and semi-structured interviews with local key agents. From the conducted interviews, we noted that the lack of security in the contracts is a fundamental characteristic of the analyzed market. There is an oligopolist structure and high demand for the properties offered, conferring enormous market power to the developers. The vulnerable population that demands housing in this area depends heavily on ties ofloyalty and trust, which emerged as centralinstitutions for the localrealestate market. Three institutions are particularly relevant: the neighborhood association, the‘milícia’, and the relationship of trust and loyalty present in the market agreements.