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realestatebr

realestatebr is a comprehensive R package for accessing Brazilian real estate market data. Get property price indices, housing credit indicators, construction materials data, primary market statistics, and economic time series—all through a unified, consistent interface.

Why realestatebr?

Brazilian real estate data is scattered across multiple sources, each with different formats, update schedules, and access methods. realestatebr solves this by:

  • Unified Access: Single get_dataset() function for all 10+ data sources
  • Automatic Fallback: Smart caching with GitHub → fresh download fallback
  • Clean Data: Standardized column names and consistent date formats
  • Up-to-Date: Regular updates via GitHub Actions workflow
  • Well Documented: Comprehensive vignettes and examples for every dataset

Key Features (v0.4.0)

🎯 Unified Interface

All datasets accessible through a single, consistent API:

library(realestatebr)

# Discover what's available
datasets <- list_datasets()

# Get any dataset
abecip <- get_dataset("abecip")
rppi <- get_dataset("rppi", table = "fipezap")

📊 10+ Data Sources

Access data from Brazil’s most authoritative sources:

Category Datasets
Credit & Finance ABECIP housing credit, BCB real estate credit
Price Indices FipeZap, IVGR, IGMI, IVAR, IQA, Secovi-SP, BIS international
Market Indicators ABRAINC primary market, Secovi-SP São Paulo market
Construction CBIC cement consumption and production
Economic Data BCB economic time series

🚀 Smart Data Access

Multiple data sources with automatic fallback:

# Auto: Try cache first, fallback to fresh download
data <- get_dataset("bcb_realestate", source = "auto")

# GitHub: Fast cached data from GitHub
data <- get_dataset("bcb_realestate", source = "github")

# Fresh: Always download latest from source
data <- get_dataset("bcb_realestate", source = "fresh")

🔍 Easy Discovery

Built-in tools to explore available data:

# See all datasets
list_datasets()

# Filter by source
list_datasets(source = "BCB")

# Get detailed info about a dataset
info <- get_dataset_info("rppi")
names(info$categories)  # See available tables

Installation

Install the development version from GitHub:

# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("viniciusoike/realestatebr")

Quick Start

Getting Housing Credit Data 

library(realestatebr)
library(dplyr)
library(ggplot2)

# Get SBPE housing credit flows
sbpe <- get_dataset("abecip", table = "sbpe")

# Visualize net flow over time
ggplot(sbpe, aes(x = date, y = netflow)) +
  geom_line(color = "steelblue", linewidth = 1) +
  labs(
    title = "SBPE Housing Credit Net Flow",
    subtitle = "Sistema Brasileiro de Poupança e Empréstimo",
    x = NULL,
    y = "R$ (millions)"
  ) +
  theme_minimal()

Analyzing Property Prices 

# Get FipeZap property price index
fipezap <- get_dataset("rppi", table = "fipezap")

# Compare rent vs sale YoY changes in São Paulo
sp_data <- fipezap |>
  filter(
    name_muni == "São Paulo",
    market == "residential",
    rooms == "total",
    variable == "acum12m",
    date >= as.Date("2019-01-01")
  )

ggplot(sp_data, aes(x = date, y = value, color = rent_sale)) +
  geom_line(linewidth = 1) +
  geom_hline(yintercept = 0) +
  scale_x_date(date_breaks = "1 year", date_labels = "%Y") +
  labs(
    title = "São Paulo Property Prices - Year-over-Year Change",
    subtitle = "Residential market - FipeZap Index",
    x = NULL,
    y = "YoY change (%)",
    color = "Market"
  ) +
  theme_minimal() +
  theme(legend.position = "bottom")

International Comparison 

# Get BIS international property price indices
bis <- get_dataset("rppi_bis")

# Compare Brazil with other countries
countries <- bis |>
  filter(
    reference_area %in% c("Brazil", "United States", "Japan"),
    is_nominal == FALSE,
    unit == "Index, 2010 = 100",
    date >= as.Date("2010-01-01")
  )

ggplot(countries, aes(x = date, y = value, color = reference_area)) +
  geom_line(linewidth = 1) +
  geom_hline(yintercept = 100) +
  labs(
    title = "Real Residential Property Prices - International",
    subtitle = "Deflated by CPI, 2010 = 100",
    x = NULL,
    y = "Index (2010 = 100)",
    color = "Country"
  ) +
  theme_minimal() +
  theme(legend.position = "bottom")

Available Datasets

Credit & Finance

  • abecip - ABECIP housing credit data
    • SBPE monetary flows (1982-present)
    • Financed units (2002-present)
    • Home equity loans (2017-present)
  • bcb_realestate - BCB real estate market data
    • Credit accounting and applications
    • Market indices
    • State-level breakdowns

Property Price Indices

  • rppi - Brazilian residential property price indices
    • FipeZap: 20 cities, sale & rent (2011-present)
    • IVGR: National sales index (2001-present)
    • IGMI: Hedonic sales index (2010-present)
    • IVAR: National rent index (2008-present)
    • IQA: QuintoAndar rent prices (2020-present)
    • Secovi-SP: São Paulo market (2009-present)
  • rppi_bis - BIS international property price indices
    • 60+ countries
    • Quarterly and monthly frequencies
    • Nominal and real indices

Market Indicators

  • abrainc - ABRAINC-FIPE primary market indicators
    • Launches, sales, deliveries
    • Business radar (0-10 index)
    • Leading indicators
  • secovi - Secovi-SP São Paulo market
    • Condominium fees
    • Rental market
    • New launches
    • Sales data

Construction & Economic

  • cbic - CBIC construction materials
    • Cement consumption by state
    • Production and exports
    • CUB prices
  • bcb_series - BCB economic time series
    • Price indices
    • Credit indicators
    • Economic activity

Learn More

Vignettes

Comprehensive guides for getting started and specialized topics:

Documentation

Data Sources & Citation

This package aggregates data from multiple authoritative sources:

  • ABECIP - Associação Brasileira das Entidades de Crédito Imobiliário e Poupança
  • ABRAINC/FIPE - Associação Brasileira de Incorporadoras / Fundação Instituto de Pesquisas Econômicas
  • Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) - Brazilian Central Bank
  • BIS - Bank for International Settlements
  • CBIC - Câmara Brasileira da Indústria da Construção
  • FGV IBRE - Fundação Getúlio Vargas / Instituto Brasileiro de Economia
  • FipeZap - FIPE / ZAP Imóveis
  • Secovi-SP - Sindicato da Habitação de São Paulo

When using this package in your research or publications, please cite both the package and the original data sources.

To cite the package:

citation("realestatebr")

What’s New in v0.4.0?

Version 0.4.0 introduces major breaking changes with a unified interface:

  • 🔧 Single Function API - All data accessed via get_dataset()
  • 📊 Hierarchical Access - Simple table parameter for multi-table datasets
  • 🚀 Smart Fallback - Automatic GitHub cache → fresh download
  • ✨ Better Errors - Informative CLI-based error messages
  • 🔄 Internal Architecture - 12 new fetch_*() functions with consistent design

Breaking Change: Individual get_*() functions removed. Use get_dataset("dataset_name") instead.

See the full migration guide for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to:

  • Report bugs or request features via GitHub Issues
  • Submit pull requests for bug fixes or new features
  • Improve documentation

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Maintainer: Vinicius Oike Reginatto () Website: https://viniciusoike.github.io/realestatebr/ Repository: https://github.com/viniciusoike/realestatebr