Cancun, Q.R. — A report from the Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers (Infonavit) detailed that in Quintana Roo, more than 23,000 mortgage holders are at risk of losing their homes.
According to their portfolio, the 2020 year began with 15,831 homeowners overdue on mortgage payments, but now, 10 months into the year, the Instituto del Fondo Nacional de la Vivienda para los Trabajadores (Infonavit) says that number has climbed to exceed 23,000.
The agency says that the 23,477 overdue mortgages are homeowners that are at least 90 days in arrears. They say that extensions are being granted to some people who have lost their jobs. Infonavit reports that those extensions make up another 13,641 files with payment problems, a figure they say, was 9,625 in January of 2019.
The sharp increase in faulty payments is being blamed on the ongoing pandemic. An economic analysis by BBVA Research warned that given the scenario of job losses, there is the risk of an increase in the number of abandoned homes in the country.
“We consider the institute’s policy to focus on cleaning up the portfolio through different support measures, mainly for lower-income workers, however, given the loss of employment that we are observing, more efforts will be necessary to maintain the financial health of its portfolio and that of the system,” the document highlights.
As for the Institute’s extension program, the same analysis considers that the figure should be eliminated and replaced by unemployment insurance, which would be a better protection mechanism for workers who lose their jobs.
Just this week, the Mexican Institute of Social Security announced that in November, more than 8,200 jobs were reactivated in Quintana Roo, however, taking into account the numbers before the pandemic, 93,000 jobs remain unrecovered.
