Residential submarkets in traditional central areas: new spaces and property obsolescence in Recife

Abstract

The central areas of Brazilian cities have acquired an increasing importance in the dynamics of capitalist production of space, either through the construction of new real estate or through the ressemantization of old real estate. In Recife, the intensification of the production of residential real estate in the immediate surroundings of the historic sites listed over the decades of 2000 and 2010 has added, to the stock built up in the central area, real estate with typologies similar to those already practiced in other districts. The present paper shows how the real estate market of new residential properties - corresponding to contemporary consumer desires - and the used real estate market are articulated in order to unveil how the residential real estate submarkets are configured. The behaviors of the bidders and consumers, the means of disclosing the available properties, pricing, the strategies for comparing the available properties and the attributes praised by bidders and valued by consumers are substantially differentiated so that, even located in proximity condition, units can enter into different submarkets with their own operating mechanisms.