Castro Almeida said that the maximum prices provided for by law for new homes “are 20% below the average price” currently practiced in metropolitan areas and the capitals.

“[With the new law], what we have to think about is the middle class. We are thinking about the couple who are nurses, the couple who are teachers, and the couple who are bank employees. It is the middle class that today has immense difficulty in buying a house and we want to make houses available at moderate prices,” he said.

For the minister, the objective is clear: “more and cheaper houses”.

“If it weren’t like that, why would we make this law then? If it weren’t to increase supply, if it weren’t to lower prices, what would the law be for?” he asked.

The governor also assured that, with the new land law, “there is no room for real estate speculation”.

“By increasing the supply of land, the price of houses will naturally fall,” he said, highlighting that, “out of caution,” a maximum price was set, which “is clearly below the market.”

Castro Almeida said that the new law “completely changes the rules on land use”, since, from now on, those who will decide on the expansion of construction capacity are the chambers and municipal assemblies, “without the need to collect a large set of opinions that until now were mandatory”.

He considered it “almost indecent” that this change could favor corruption, remembering that all political parties and all parish council presidents are represented in the chambers and municipal assemblies.

“How is it possible to corrupt all these people?” he said.

For the Minister of Cohesion, the principle underlying the new land law “is that no one is better than the mayors of each area to decide what is best for that land”.

“This is the ultimate in transparency. This is the opposite of the opacity that allows corruption. Each municipality decides in its territory, that's how it should be. That's what they are elected for. And each case is different,” he concluded.