The Oaxacafication of Goa
On a walking tour in Oaxaca, Mexico last year, my local guide said something that struck close to home – “Most homes and businesses in the city aren’t owned by Oaxacans. They’re owned by Americans.”
Because of American demand, Oaxacans couldn’t afford to live in the best parts of their own city and were forced to live in the shanty towns on its outskirts. In the battle to capture the city’s land – its most precious fixed asset – the locally generated Peso was no match for the foreign earned Dollar.
Today, the Oaxacans are tenants in their own homeland.
In my home state of Goa, India, things are trending in the same direction.
Last week, I visited a property for sale in a village close to where I live. An elderly Goan couple was selling their ancestral land. As someone considering a move into the real estate industry, this piece of land was perfect for me. Well located, and large enough to subdivide, build villas on, and flip to industrialists from Bombay or Delhi for a hefty profit. A pattern that is all too common nowadays. A developer’s dream, but the average local’s nightmare.
I might not proceed with the transaction, but I know someone else will. The land will transform into the holiday homes of a few wealthy city folks who’ll brandish it as a status symbol within their cliques. They’ll continue earning their money in cities far away, and visit Goa once a year at best.
In the free market of Goan land, unfortunately, the local salary is no match for a city-generated income.
If our land isn’t protected, or vacant homes aren’t heavily taxed, we’ll soon become tenants in our own homeland.