Half of Brazil's population cannot prove full legal ownership of their homes, depriving authorities in the recession-hit country of a major source of taxes and deterring local investment, a senior government official said.
An estimated 100 million people lack property rights, a senior Ministry of Cities official told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, highlighting the need for Brazil to bring its housing sector into the formal economy.
Title deeds for millions of unregistered homes would provide residents with greater security and investors with more stability, analysts said.