At the market peak in São Paulo, there were 650 active developers. Only approximately 120 of these 650 developers launched over R$50M per year. In the large majority of cases, developers were able to generate positive cash flow. The huge increase in prices covered up 95% of errors. As is often said in business, sales solve all problems. The numbers were fairly dramatic. Simultaneously, during the 2009 to 2013 period developers had the following strong tailwinds at their backs: one, a strong credit market; two, price increases encouraging rapid purchase during launch; and three, relatively lenient credit terms for construction finance and for consumers.
During this time, even the best developers made mistakes. For example, Cyrela, which is the gold standard, expanded into various regions in Brazil where they did not have the management talent or the appropriate partners to be successful. Less successful developers made similar mistakes. The mistakes, at least those made by the smart developers, were usually corrected rapidly and developers retrenched back into markets and products that they understood.
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