Mexico City seeks reforms to curb runaway rental prices

The legislature of Mexico City was mulling reforms to tackle the Mexican capital's skyrocketing rental prices rooted in part in its popularity with tourists and travelers.The city Congress began on 7 November to discuss in committees proposals presented by the mayoress Clara Brugada to reform the city's Civil Code and present specific legislation (provisionally the Mexico City Law on Fair, Reasonable and Accessible Rent) to regulate prices, La Jornada reported. The city's chief housing officer, Inti Muñoz Santini told this meeting that Mexico City now had the highest rental prices in Latin America. "It's much more expensive to live in Mexico City than in Bogotá, Buenos Aires or Sao Paulo," the paper quoted him as saying. For example, he said, the flat he rented in 1998 in the leafy Roma Sur neighborhood for 1,500 pesos while earning 7,500 pesos a month would now cost 17,500 pesos (more than 800 euros), which evidently exceeded most wages. Even sale prices had shot up: he said a 40-square-meter flat might typically go for between three and 3.5 million pesos (over 140,000 euros), which "95% of the population cannot afford." Figures compiled by the city's housing departmanent suggested even higher rental and sale prices, with rents in desirable sectors beginning at around 23,000 pesos a month (1,000 euros or more) and sale prices at four million pesos upwards, La Jornada reported on 8 November.