Property markets across Latin America and the Caribbean are expected to strengthen next year on the back of average economic growth of +3.1% in 2010, according to figures compiled by The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin American and Caribbean (Eclac).

The Brazil property sector could be one market in Latin America that records better than average growth for the region, with the country’s economy expected to increase by +3.5% next year.

Data compiled by Eclac shows that Brazil’s gross domestic product (GDP) will fall by around -0.8% this year, compared to -1.9% for the region at large, due to the global economic crisis, following six straight years of growth.

The region’s projected economic decline is far lower than Ernst & Young Item Club’s prediction that the UK economy will set shrink by -4.5% this year, the largest fall in a single year since 1945.

Eclac’s prediction compliments that of Brazil’s central bank, which also expects Brazil’s economy to grow by +3.5% in 2010.