São Paulo Negócios as the Municipal Government investment and export promotion agency, works to improve the city’s business environment by supporting companies to start or expand their operations at the city level, providing a 360° service that ranges from the diagnosis to implementation, as well as a direct line of contact with strategic public authorities in a wide variety of sectors.
Among these segments, Real Estate plays a very important part not only in the projects supported by São Paulo Negócios, but also in the City of São Paulo’s economy prosperity. Last year, the housing sector’s Gross Sales Value (GSV) reached R$58 billion representing a 2% increase compared to 2024, when adjusted for inflation (Secovi-SP, 2025). In corporate, São Paulo accounted for 31% of all occupied office space in Latin America over the last four quarters, leading the region’s market recovery, having a vacancy rate of 16.7% (CBRE, 2025).
In 2025, São Paulo Negócios supported more than $ 615 million in investments by the private sector in the City, the construction sector accounted for almost 60% from this amount. In a scenario of legal security, provided by a strong regulatory framework, combined with stable demand, created the requirements to São Paulo Negócios works alongside the City Hall to give more transparency and agility in Real Estate projects approval for the entrepreneurs.
In a Global metropolis like São Paulo, the demand for high-end residential projects is constant, but given the social disparity that is locally present, so is for affordable housing, considering the high level of verticalization and the square meter cost for greenfield projects development, the retrofit has emerged as an interesting alternative to fulfill this demand in the City of São Paulo.
Given that the City Center of São Paulo has high historical value and passed through a long deterioration process on the second half of last Century, it was the perfect match for new affordable housing projects development through retrofit, in this context in 2021 the City Hall of São Paulo pioneered the launch of the program “Requalifica Centro”, which establishes tax and urban incentives for requalification projects through retrofit
São Paulo Negócios played a vital role at the time of the program’s regulation in 2021, by promoting an active listening process with 17 private companies. At the time, the agency made sure that companies’ views were taken in consideration to enable the largest number of projects to be implemented preserving the City Center’s architectural characteristics.
In 2023, the City Hall launched the economic subsidy for projects also focused on affordable housing, heritage preservation and sustainable practices, covering up to 25% of the requalification costs for each project, with these initiatives combined the Municipal Government intends to bring 220,000 new residents to the center of São Paulo, until this moment, 48 requalification projects were approved by the City Hall under these programs, 9 out of these projects already finished their reform, in total these represents more than 5 thousand new units in the region.
Last year, São Paulo Negócios hosted an event that reunited 65 companies, distributed between different property investment funds, construction firms, business developers and consulting groups interested in developing projects in the area, to map potential adjustments to be made in both programs mentioned above, with the intent provide solutions to critical bottlenecks for investments to happen on a larger scale. The occasion made more than clear the private sector interest in the region, but with the requirements to improve the urban maintenance, relaxation of historical heritage regulations by the City Hall and better access to credit lines, with a specific interest rate and collateral requirements for retrofit projects in financial institutions.
It is important to mention that not only the São Paulo’s City Hall is engaged with the urban requalification process of the City Center but also São Paulo’s State Government. This February São Paulo’s Government hired through a Public Private Partnership a consortium led by the highly qualified Real Estate business developer RZK, to build a new administrative center to accommodate 22 thousand public servants in the City Center, which will increase the demand for housing and commercial establishments in the region.
In conclusion, São Paulo offers a unique window of opportunity. Supported by the strategic work of São Paulo Negócios and a modern legal framework, the city is successfully transforming its historic heart into a vibrant, mixed-use territory that balances economic growth with social and heritage preservation and the companies that already are onboard are likely to achieve strong returns on their investment.
