President of BPI calls for “very strong program for building new houses” | Banking

The executive president (CEO) of Banco BPI, Pedro Oliveira and Costa, argues that “It is not with subsidies that the problem of the lack of housing can be solved, it is with a greater supply of houses”, challenging the Government “to kick-start” “a very strong program of construction of new houses”.

The defense of the creation of this “very strong construction program” was made during the press conference to present the institution’s quarterly results, precisely when he was challenged to comment on the opportunity of the Government’s proposal to create a public guarantee to allow young people to acquire homes I believe.

Regarding this proposal from the AD Government, Pedro Oliveira e Costa said he had not yet seen “anything concrete”, but considered that “it will not have much impact on the contracting of new credits”, because the “problem is in the details [condições de acesso à medida], and there is a lack of cheaper houses. “We are granting a lot of credit, but it is for more expensive houses, he said.

CEO BPI’s proposal does not involve the construction of houses directly by the State, with the latter having the task of “giving direction”, that is, “creating the conditions” for them to emerge, namely through rules and areas where they can be constructed, as well as “guaranteeing public services”. The rest would be guaranteed by national or even foreign construction companies, and with bank financing, assures the manager, adding that he only sees advantages in this plan, namely “more jobs, greater economic growth”, and also “decent and sustainable housing”.

The BPI leader safeguards that “banks will not have a special interest” in building more housing, countering that the biggest advantage will come from “guaranteeing a home for everyone”. The person responsible even talks about the creation of “new, more sustainable cities, more pleasant to live in”.

Regarding the risk of excessive exposure of the banking sector to construction companies, as happened in the past, with serious consequences for the institutions and the country, Pedro Oliveira and Costa guarantees that “with the current rules there will be no problems”. He also recalled that BPI did not have these types of problems, and that the most serious cases occurred when construction companies were also shareholders in the banks where they obtained credit.

Unlike other countries, the rental market “does not work in Portugal”, says Pedro Oliveira and Costa, adding that the best proof of this lies in the fact that 70% of Portuguese people live at home own​. To those who say that “there are too many houses, but they are closed”, to those who say that there are 100 thousand houses missing.

He considers, however, that taking into account the high price of existing houses, the solution would have to involve offering cheaper houses, which young people could buy. To this end, he recalls that “there are new forms of construction, as is already being done in other countries, and which are even safer”, such as modular construction.