THREE years ago, asphyxiated by Venezuela’s economic meltdown, Francisco Rojas and his wife Elena packed up four suitcases with the barest of essentials and walked out of their Caracas apartment.

It has remained empty ever since.

Toothbrushes are still perched on the bathroom sink, the refrigerator runs with only ice and tomato sauce inside, and the bar is empty except for a lone bottle of rum.

Deserted homes, desolate apartment blocks and stagnant markets for both renters and buyers are yet another disheartening by-product of the South American country’s dire economic straits, which have prompted a mass exodus.

Elena, 33, was offered a job in Ecuador and there was no looking back. She can now earn as much in one month as she did in four years in Caracas.

When the couple left Venezuela, they simply locked the doors to the apartment rather than selling it, even though the money would have helped. Bought for US$100,000 (RM420,000) in 2014, their home had already lost half of its value.

“We wanted to see how things would go. Now that we’re established, it would be absurd to sell,” Francisco Rojas, a 28-year-old sports journalist, told AFP from Guayaquil, Ecuador’s most populous city.

In Venezuela, more and more apartment blocks have turned into ghost buildings.

Lights are never turned on, parking spaces remain empty and mailboxes are jammed with letters that are never claimed. 

The crisis has sparked a new business – management of deserted homes.

Such services include the payment of public services bills, representation at condo meetings and even the switching on of lights at various times to ward off burglars.

According to the United Nations, some 1.6 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2015 and a total of 2.3 million live abroad – some 7.5% of the total population of 30.6 million.

The Rojases were tired of the insecurity, the lack of food and medicine and the inflation – predicted by the International Monetary Fund to reach a staggering 1 million % this year – that rendered their salaries practically worthless.

Hope springs eternal, though, even for those who have already left.

“If the situation improves, we’ll see if we return to Venezuela or sell the apartment,” said Francisco.

Right now, it’s not a sellers’ market.

Roberto Orta, president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Real Estate in Caracas, said properties have lost 70% to 80% of their value over the last five years. – AFP, September 20, 2018.