Federico Cerdas

Why did you decide to rebrand and transition from Global Businesses to Skyhaus?

Basically, the reason for our rebranding is being able to communicate to our customer all the benefits of our brand. Global Businesses Inc. is a tricky name, which is why we decided to create a friendlier name for our customers, which combines our expectations and the services that we provide to them. “Sky“ refers to the ability to create unique things that make you imagine and see those blue clouds, and “haus“ refers to your home. Basically, we would like to send this message to the people who purchase our services and houses: we are a company that builds the home of your dreams.

What trends have you observed in the real estate market in the last year?

As an investor, you have the opportunity to invest in many areas, one of which is property. Mexico City continues to maintain the same value despite the pandemic. There was a minimum capital gain between 1% and 2% considering last year’s inflation, and 2021 is likely to be similar. For an institutional investor trying to grow in the real estate sector, between all the assets available, residential real estate remains attractive because it allows them to recover their investment every three years. The problem in investing in other projects more orientated in the long term is that you do not have control over many random components such as political interests, inflation, customer behavior, and so on. When you work on selling residential buildings, which is our core business, we reduce that to 10 years and divide it further. This way, every three years we are able to calculate and analyze the current status in order to determine if we should continue investing with the same strategy or change it. We provide this flexibility in institutional investment, which is why our clients choose us.

What do you think about fintechs and crowdsourcing as a source of capital for infrastructure projects?

Fintechs are here to stay. They are a new tendency through which we as developers may obtain the necessary capital to create projects or build. However, providing access to those capital is still far too expensive, because the rates offered by these companies are too high to attract customers to invest. It is not appealing to us, first because the rates offered are out of the market. The potential in using such crowdfunding to finance would be apply it to what I call crowd-selling instead of crowdfunding. The people who cannot afford to buy an apartment or a property by themselves could be combined with another 30-100 people to purchase an apartment at a discount that will generate an income. Those people could work with us in that way; there is potential there.

What projects are you working on in Mexico City, and which are closer to finishing?

We are now focused on three areas of Mexico City: Benito Juarez, Cuauhtémoc, and Miguel Hidalgo. These three municipalities comprise approximately the 50% of the total demand of the city. From that 50%, we are working with the 15-20% of all aggregate demand.

Why did Skyhaus decide to focus in Mexico City?

Mexico City enables us to maintain attractive absorption rates and that capital gain, and this is possible due to the fact that the offerings here are lower than the demand. People realized during the pandemic that they are living in small spaces, and consequently, we now have now a new type of consumer who wants to live in a much bigger house, with better comforts and more amenities, such as for example a balcony.

Is Mexico City likely to have a housing bubble?

Housing bubbles are created simply because the price or a house is not growing in line with demand. In Spain, for example, housing became extremely expensive, while demand was stable; in some areas, it even went down. However, that is not happening in Mexico City, where housing is limited. There will be other markets where a bubble may occur, but that is not the case here.

What are your main goals for the rest of the year and for 2022?

We would like to continue selling units, since consumers have embraced it. For 2022, we will continue to buy land to develop 13 projects, which will be added to the current ones. In addition, we are also in the process of obtaining our first CKD for 2023. Mexico is a big country, and Mexico City is still an attractive place for investment. Institutional funds are invested in these types of assets. Our residential asset for selling could be a great opportunity for growth in the near future.