When the nation’s largest private bank, the Banco Popular, announced its “Housing Fair” with dozens of housing projects, dozens of builders and dozens of building suppliers as participants, the general attitude was sort of “Ho-Hum.” However after the first three days, the bank had to announce a week-long extension of the fair and in the end, mortgages for RD$2.8 billion were drawn up and about 2,000 housing units were sold at APRs that varied from 14.95% to 15.75%. The new houses were sold in every corner of the Dominican Republic as well as units in Miami. The projects included apartments, single-family dwellings and tourist projects. Some preliminary reports seem to indicate that many of the builders sold out their construction projects, and will probably have to get intermediate financing to avoid having to halt construction. Most of the sales were in Santo Domingo, the Cibao and the eastern part of the country. The offerings were everything from economical RD$450,000 single-family units to the most luxurious housing available in Santo Domingo, Santiago de los Caballeros or Puerto Plata. Also in the mix were villas in such paradise-like destinations as La Romana and Bavaro.