Puerto Rico’s housing market registered a surprisingly strong rebound with the house price index rising by 14.6% during 2020, a sharp turnaround from a y-o-y decline of 0.7% in 2019.

The Puerto Rican housing market has not performed well over the past 10 years. The island has experienced a prolonged economic crisis, massive debt, high unemployment and continuing population loss. Puerto Rico's bankruptcy filing in May 2017 was the biggest in the history of the US, with $70bn in debt and $50bn in pension liabilities. 

During 2020, Puerto Rico’s economy was estimated to have contracted by 7.5%, in contrast to an annual growth of 2% in 2019, mainly due to the pandemic as well as regular earthquakes, according to the IMF. The economy is expected to remain weak, with projected GDP growth of just 1.5% this year and 0.7% in 2022, based on IMF estimates.