The number of home sales in the City of Buenos Aires dropped 47.6% to 5,092 sales in January and February 2009 compared to the same two months in 2008 according to the Colegio de Escribanos. The actual sales volume dropped 44.1% from roughly $2.5 billion pesos (US $676 million) to $1.3 billion pesos (US $350 million). February was the worst month in home sales since February 2002 which was right after the 2001 crisis in Argentina.
The Argentine market is a very difficult to predict because many Argentines tend to invest in real estate in tough times because they often have more confidence in “bricks” than in banks or the stock market. The other item rarely mentioned is that the actual sales volume is much higher than what is reported by the Colegio de Escribanos. The Colegio de Escribanos uses the sale price listed on the title of each property and almost every real estate sale in Buenos Aires lists a sale price substantially lower, more than 50% lower in many cases, than the actual sale price in order avoid paying taxes.
It will be interesting to see how the recent slump in sales will affect prices in the future. My impression of the market now is that prices have stablized but that you can negotiate the sale price more than you could before.
Other Resources
- Buenos Aires Housing Market Plunges
- Cayó en el primer bimestre 47,6% la venta de inmuebles (Clarín article in Spanish)
Photos
- Thanks to woodleywonderworks for the photo
About the Author
Eric Northam traveled and lived in more than 25 countries before settling in Buenos Aires. He founded MoveGlobally.com to help people move freely throughout the world and help real estate brokers manage and run their businesses. He is a regular blogger on MoveGlobally.com and also writes for the EasyBroker blog.
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