Total Number of Rented Homes Increases by 5.3 percent in Brazil

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Of the 71 million households in Brazil in 2018, 12.9 million were rented, according to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). The data, released on Wednesday, May 22nd, in the National Continuous Household Sample Survey (PNAD), shows an increase of 5.3 percent of people renting homes in comparison to 2017.

The PNAD study gathers information related to general characteristics of households and residents of all regions in Brazil in the year 2018 and compares the results with those of previous years.

Between 2017 and 2018, according to the study, there was an increase in rented residences throughout the country. The most significant elevation was in the Southeast region, which registered a growth of 5.8 percent. Currently, 20.5 percent of all homes located in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and Espírito Santo are rented.

Although the region registered a proportionally lower advance compared to the growth seen in 2017, the Center-West remained the region with the highest percentage of rented residences, 22.9 percent of the country’s total.

The number of people who owned their homes, on the other hand, registered a slight percentage decrease from 2017 to 2018. In 2017, out of 69.5 million households, 51 million were owned, representing 73.3 percent of the total. In 2018, the number of homeowners was 51.5 million out of 71 million, which is 72.5 percent.

The IBGE survey also reveals that, in 2018, 31 million residences were located in the Southeast; 18.5 million in the Northeast; 10.7 million in the South; 5.5 million in the Midwest and 5.3 million in the North.