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Itajaí accumulates a deficit of 15.8 thousand homes, has 52 thousand families with income for middle-class properties, and sees Portovelas reach 70% of sales in six months
Itajaí arrives in 2026 with a significant challenge: the city accumulated a housing deficit of approximately 15.8 thousand homes between 2015 and 2025, while maintaining strong real estate appreciation and growing demand for middle-class properties. The diagnosis is from Brain Inteligência Estratégica and points to a market with potential buyers, but which faced a recent low supply of products compatible with this profile.
The survey shows that over 51% of families in the municipality have adequate income to purchase mid-standard properties.
This percentage represents about 52 thousand households with consumption potential, a volume that helps explain the resumption of projects aimed at this public in one of the most valued cities in the country.
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More than 1.2 million tons put the Port of Itajaí back on a strong pace, give new logistical impetus to the terminal, and open the route to take Santa Catarina exports, such as bananas, to the European market.
Itajaí is the second largest economy in Santa Catarina
Itajaí is currently the second largest economy in Santa Catarina and ranks among the five most valued square meters in Brazil according to the FipeZap index.
Even with this scenario, the city spent the last few years with a limited supply of launches aimed at the middle class, precisely at a time of population growth and increased housing needs.
Brain’s projection indicates that Itajaí will need an additional 13.4 thousand new properties by 2031 just to keep up with population growth.
This data reinforces the pressure on the local market and highlights a significant space for developments with prices, square footage, and structure aligned with the purchasing power of families looking to move out of rented accommodation, change properties, or invest in their own unit.
Middle class concentrates strong purchasing potential
For Fábio Inthurn, CEO of Lotisa Empreendimentos, the study shows that the city did not suffer from a lack of demand, but from the absence of suitable products.
He states that a significant portion of the population went years without access to launches compatible with their income and life stage.
It was in this context that Lotisa launched Portovelas, identified as the largest mid-standard residential development in the region, which reached 70% of units sold in just six months.
The development comprises 780 apartments, with floor plans between 34 m² and 66 m², and units currently available starting from R$ 501 thousand.
The sales speed is seen by the developer as a reflection of repressed demand. For Inthurn, the combination of location, efficient square footage, leisure structure, and payment conditions compatible with middle-class income accelerated the market’s response.
Portovelas reaches 70% of sales in six months
In addition to the volume of units, Portovelas also stands out for its internal structure. The project will have over 8,500 m² of leisure area, considered the largest in the region.
The space includes a swimming pool, gym, courts, coworking, and common areas, elements that enhance the appeal of the development for families and buyers looking for more services within the condominium itself.
Another highlight of the project is the active facade, with commercial spaces on the ground floor. The proposal expands the offering of services in the surroundings and brings together housing, commerce, and convenience in the same area, following an increasingly present trend in mid-standard urban developments.
Lotisa targets new projects for the same audience
Based on the demand data identified by the research, Lotisa is also studying launching another development with a similar profile, aimed at the same consumer public, in the coming months.
The initiative reinforces the movement of the real estate market in Itajaí, in light of the housing deficit, towards products that cater to the middle class, in a city where the appreciation of the square meter coexists with a housing deficit and the need for expanding supply.
Lotisa Empreendimentos has been operating for two decades on the northern coast of Santa Catarina and has consolidated itself as one of the main developers in Itajaí and Praia Brava.
Under the leadership of its founder, Fábio Inthurn, the company has already delivered more than 25 developments and 1,600 properties.
Currently, it maintains approximately 1,700 units under construction and is preparing a strategic entry into Balneário Camboriú, expanding its presence in one of Santa Catarina’s most competitive real estate markets.
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