The steep rise in interest rates has made it impossible for most Dominicans to fulfill their fantasy of owning a home, according to an article in El Caribe’s economy section. What appeared to be an affordable proposal less than one year ago is now well beyond the reach of most people’s pockets. To support this statement, the newspaper cites the case of a couple who took out a loan for a low-cost home, with estimated monthly repayments of RD$5,900. In spite of these estimates, they are now faced with a bill of RD$8,000 per month, meaning that the so-called low-cost housing is no longer low cost. Rates of 16% have now shot up to as much as 26% on the purchase of a RD$500,000 dwelling. As a result, house sales have slumped, according to Francisco Gonzalez, president of the housing construction and development association Acoprovi. Gonzalez also said that although the situation was difficult, there was a case for persuading people to invest in property as a means of maintaining the value of their assets against a devaluing currency. House prices and rents have also gone up considerably in recent months: the price of a mid-range apartment in a middle class Santo Domingo neighborhood has almost doubled, from RD$800,000 in 2000 to RD$1.5 million now. Many landlords link their rents to the US dollar, meaning that a rent of US$800 (RD$13,000 at the old exchange rate of US$1 to RD$16), which has increased to US$1,000, now signifies that the tenants have to come up with RD$36,000 a month. It must be pointed out that people are still struggling to make these payments on salaries that have not experienced anywhere near that sort of increase.