Buenos Aires Real Estate

How to choose a neighborhood in Buenos Aires for the purchase of the properties? Part II

How are the buildings and apartments?

If you are thinking of how are the streets of your new neighbor going to be, I can share with you some few things:

Recoleta: Tourists use to call it the “Little Paris”, but it also has British style buildings. Here you will find roomy & classic apartments, wooden streets, and lesser apartments per floor. It is one of the most valuable areas of the city.

Palermo: It is one of the main districts, so it has traditional houses & buildings, parks & squares. Because of its wideness and different attractions, some of its districts have been recalled Barrio Norte, The Old Palermo, The Soho, Palermo Hollywood and Las Cañitas.

Palermo Soho, Palermo Hollywood: They are part of Palermo Neighborhood, so they have traditional houses and renewed PHs, which are some kind of large apartments with many rooms and high roofs, sometimes with more than a floor, and stairs on the yard. But also, there are new developments coming.

Barrio Norte: This area takes some blocks from the streets of Palermo and Recoleta, so it has something of both.

Las Cañitas: Las Cañitas is an area between Palermo and Belgrano which has been increasing its popularity thanks to its high lifestyle standards, its fancy attractions and the good security on streets, probably due to the high amount of military dependences around. Streets have classic buildings but mainly new developments with modern apartments and Lofts. Streets are wooden and buildings use to have lesser apartments per floor than in other popular neighborhoods.

Belgrano: Along with Palermo, there are the largest residential zones. In Belgrano R (Residential Belgrano), the neighborhood has the kind of families and houses you could usually find in Recoleta. It has residential buildings, tile wooden streets, parks & squares.

Puerto Madero: Just like the London’s Docks project, the docks of Buenos Aires have been renewed and represent the latest architectural trendy. Along the streets, owners drive their selves to the skyscrapers, the renewed buildings and condos, or await for the new developments coming.

The place is meant to be a dazzling neighborhood, even as much as the exclusive Recoleta.

San Telmo: This is one of the oldest districts of Buenos Aires, once spread from the dock’s edge on tile streets. The first neighbors built their fancy buildings around, which has been renewed nowadays to become PHs apartments in most chases.

La Boca: This is another kind of cultural neighborhood in Buenos Aires, built as well for the first neighbors who were part of a rather more popular class. Some people even say Tango’s history born there. Today its buildings have also been renewed yet with a particular style, so streets are splashed of colored buildings and condos, right away from the river.

Pilar: This is the area of the country houses, with the American buildings style. Pilar born once as a little town near Buenos Aires, but it has been taken by the city throughout the years. Along with other traditional surrounding neighborhoods like San Isidro, Pilar are chosen by those who look for safety streets, gardens with flowers, trees and quietness.

How to choose a neighborhood in Buenos Aires for the purchase of the properties?  Part I

This note will be delivered in three parts, so that all people who are considering buying a property in Buenos Aires, but still do not know which may be the best place, have some information here that will found it useful to read: a profile of the Buenos Aires’s streets to help you decide what is the best place.

How are the neighbors?
If it is important for you to know how your neighbors could be on the streets you’re seeking, here there are some short comments on how people use to be around:

Recoleta, Barrio Norte, Palermo, Cañitas, Belgrano: These are residential neighborhoods, people move here to live in family and have a quiet life, in nice apartments or houses, safe streets, squares, and all commodities for families. They all surround downtown.

Palermo Soho, Palermo Hollywood: These are the favorite streets for young people, designers, students and artists. People move here to be close to night’s attractive, but also to open their own design shop, a theme restaurant or bar
and other things like that.

San Telmo: This is the bohemian & artistical district. It is not a common place, its main streets are plenty of culture, music and art. If you would like to be close to Buenos Aires cultural life, this is the best place.

Puerto Madero: It is the latest neighborhood of Buenos Aires, a riverbank renewed just like the London’s Docks. Professionals and business people move here, but also families looking for the high lifestyle standards and the fancy attractive in the renewed docks.

Pilar: It is the country houses area. Families move here looking for its beauty and safety. People build nice houses on their yards, and drive to work during the weeks after a quiet Sundays.

Large pools of investment globally tend to be one step ahead in the information they handle, such as where it is most desirable area to focus their capitals in search of bigger rent ability, which are the places with boom, and so on. And small investors, where do they take their information from?

Something to know is that unlike previous years where the investment was more fluid and constantly by the European public, the euro reached a difference with the dollar 60 percent of which from a monetary standpoint mark the desirability of invest, as a property of U S $ 100,000 U.S. dollars to acquire it is possible € 60,000. But this is not happening.

The reasons we can look for the fall values of properties in the United States and Spain mainly, and the rise in local values. The key is to look carefully and with tranquility knowing that there are good options to purchase and not necessarily in central locations such as Recoleta or Puerto Madero, names that are part of the vocabulary from abroad.

Palermo Hollywood is facing a transition similar to that experienced during the first years after devaluation; Palermo Soho area today turned into housing for walking and mandatory visit Buenos Aires, a product of its gastronomy, its stores that stand as a fashion pint, night life and its joyful constructions. But like any transition, to risk something new is seen as distant or uncertain. In March 2009 will be completed and operating a luxury five-star hotel, which joined LA ALGODONERA, LOS SILOS DE DORREGO and Av. Juan B. Justo towers are symbols of this area that will soak will glamour a neighborhood that knows how to mix strictly Buenos Aires with touches of modernity providing an interesting eclectic style.

And if we add to this the exchange advantage, Buenos Aires continues to provide attractive investment alternatives in areas that are on track to set itself up as favorite in the taste of those seeking new and better alternatives is as permanent or temporary housing.

The north of Buenos Aires, it was historically the zone of the city most estimated to live and certainly for real-estate business. The best constructions, the most luxurious towers, the projects of more resonance were predestined to have one point of reference in the city, the north.

On the other hand, the south after the yellow fever epidemic exiled all the wealthy families that were living in the areas surrounding San Telmo in the middle of the 19th century. Little by little was losing the charm, furthermore in the southern part, where there was an industrial pole that was used as base to the big factories of Buenos Aires and the surroundings. With these precedents, the south was devaluated compare to the lucky north.
For some years, the south is generating another interest, Puerto Madero probably has been the key to put attention and to see that beyond the Belgrano Avenue there is much to do, for construction and new urban options.

The situation we commented in previous post, about the north in relation to reach a plateau in terms of construction is turning the south in the main protagonist of the next years. The relocation of the civic center and the construction of new subways from north to south are showing that it is time of develop the south part of the city. New and important real estate business will be news in short or medium term.

Even though its plateau, the north hasn’t been the center of important investment opportunities, Palermo, Recoleta, Retiro and Belgrano are its main neighborhood.

If we have to make a quick balance of the last few years about the inversion in real estate business, we will be able to say that the growth is the main characteristic.

Rates and reality show that Argentinean economic growth has no interruption during these years and it is also being significant, even more than neighboring countries such The Economist point out in a recent article; it indicates a 9% increase in contrast with Brazilian economy. Tourism peak is another beneficial factor that influences in this development, showing a progressive increase as a tendency, it adds year by year more foreign visitants. Also, building industry shows a stage of plateau (for local reason) that motivates the increase of the square meter of construction for certain areas, seeming to be the trend within short term in Buenos Aires. Specialists think that the increase in the price of the square meter is an opportunity of investment to take into account, the same happens with the renting apartment segment. The supply revalues each property, an equation that is profitable to whom invested and also to invest nowadays considering the prediction of this tendency.

“Las Cañitas” and “La Imprenta” for example are ideal areas to invest in Palermo; it has an important supply of new buildings (a total of 42 constructions) most of them are residential buildings; this is a thing that must be pointed out. In 2005 the price of the square meter was approximately of USD 1450; in 2006 it was of USD 1600; in 2007 it was of USD 1980, finally in 2008 it reaches USD 2350. This shows an increase of the 18% in the last year. “Las Cañitas de Palermo” is a good opportunity of investment being also profitable in other neighborhoods of Buenos Aires.

Those who are interested in renting apartments, will be favored because the return rates are the highest in the world, the lodging demand of foreign people is evident, the tourism boom, the benefit in the currency and the life standard of the city, make foreign people (specially Europeans and Americans) to invest in Buenos Aires’s properties; not only to live in but also as a business.

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