The president of the Association of Builders and Real Estate Promoters (Acoprovi), Jose Rodriguez Caceres and the president of ReMax Dominicana Melido Marte are optimistic about the real estate market in the Dominican Republic, as reported by Listin Diario. They say that there has been a definite recovery in sales since the end of last year. They say that their data shows a rebound of 20% compared to the first two months of 2005. Data from the Central Bank shows that the construction sector grew by 6.2% in 2005. The real estate experts say this is a result of the drop in the cost of money. Loans for housing are now around 14-16% and developers can access money as low as 12.5%. They also attributed the increase in sales to the relative stability of the exchange rate. Rodriguez says that compared to 2003 and 2004, local real estate sales have undergone a 360-degree change.