Two years ago I called the bottom on the real estate market in Buenos Aires, and said that its rise would be steady, as long as Milei’s economic reforms continued gaining traction.
The changes have persevered, and the real estate market has been doing well.
It’s not just the economy undergoing reform, but the real estate market as well:
- Rents can be set in USD or even crypto
- No more rent control
- Reduced closings costs / transfer taxes
- No more taxes on rental income for long-term leases to individuals/families that make the property their primary residence
After spending a week in country during The Wandering Investor Live in Buenos Aires, I left with deeper insight. My view of the market has shifted.
I continue to believe that as long as the reforms continue, the market will do well. There is evidence that the reforms are likely to march onward, seeing as “well-informed” people such as Peter Thiel, cofounder of Palantir, are now investing in Argentina. He recently bought a $12 million mansion in the heart of Buenos Aires and moved his family there. Open AI is also exploring a massive $25 billion data center in Patagonia.
My view has evolved
I now believe that there is limited short-term or medium-term downside. Even if leftists were to take the reins again, there is a floor under Argentina’s performance due to significant tailwinds pushing the country forward:
- Absolutely booming energy production in Vaca Muerta in Patagonia
- A world of chaos, especially in the commodities space, is great for Argentina which has always been seen as a refuge from global drama
- No leverage in the real estate market
- Many new mining projects given the go-ahead
- Surging agricultural exports
The tailwinds are too strong for the far left to derail the country too quickly. You’d have enough time to exit.
Great deals can be found in historical real estate
Just look at this first property that we presented to our clients during our live event. We tour it in this video together with Max. So much value, charm and distinction.
Here is another example of great value for money
This unique Cupula with views of Congress was listed for $450,000. I negotiated it down to substantially less than $400,000 for a private client. He backed out last minute. This listing is still available (ask Max, he is the listing agent).
Such properties are absolutely unique and would be worth millions of dollars in any other major capital city. Yet here, it’s a buyer’s market. This is a trophy property that you can keep in your portfolio for generations, or even a great lifestyle pad. It probably wouldn’t do bad on Airbnb either. In the negotiations we got approval to add a jacuzzi with a platform for Congress views.
Compare this trophy property with whatever you can buy back home for this amount of money. What’s the better long term play?
Resources
To a World of Opportunities,
The Wandering Investor
Services in Argentina:
Articles on Argentina:
- Buenos Aires Real Estate Market: 2026 Investor Guide
- Real estate Bull Market in Buenos Aires – how to invest?
- Removal of capital controls in Argentina – impact on Buenos Aires real estate market
If you want to read more such articles on other real estate markets in the world, go to the bottom of my International Real Estate Services page.
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Transcript of “Good Deals in Buenos Aires Luxury Real Estate – A Buyer’s Market”
LADISLAS MAURICE: Hello from sunny Buenos Aires. We are on this gorgeous terrace with an absolutely unique view. We just finished a five-day investor tour here. We had people coming from all over, from North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, for five days of trying to understand the situation in Argentina, as well as looking for opportunities. So we went to some of the largest publicly traded companies here in Argentina. We met with professors, analysts, we went to the Central Bank, etc. And then we had two days of curated property viewings that we curated together. And Max, this was one of your strongest recommendations, and this property is absolutely amazing. Can you give us some more information?
Tour of 3-bedroom unit with church view in Almagro, Buenos Aires
MAX: Yeah. So, this is a unique piece of real estate. It’s in the heart of Almagro, which is a retired area of the city of BA, maybe 15, 20 minutes away from the downtown. Obviously, the view speaks for itself, which is the María Auxiliadora Church, where quick tidbit, the Pope, former Pope Francis was baptized there. This is a stand-alone house. We refer to them as PH, property horizontal, PH, and the benefit it has among others is that it doesn’t pay HOAs. It’s just a stand-alone private entryway house. It is upwards of 100 years old. You’re going to see now all the details and all the original floor and awnings. And yeah, it’s got this terrace, which is I think the standout it has. It is a three-bedroom over three stories. Let’s have a look and you can tell me for yourself.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Price?
MAX: Price is $359,000 over 262 square meters, which translates roughly into $1,500 per square meter, uh, value, which is, again, very, very, very interesting price point.
LADISLAS MAURICE: The construction costs in Buenos Aires right now are about $1,500 a square meter or $140 per square foot. So here at 1,500, you get a completely finished product, you get the land, you get everything and as well you get history.
MAX: So you get the quality of construction of something which is set in the same place for over 100 years.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, yeah. All right, let’s check it out.
MAX: All right, so welcome. Come on in. Stairs, entrance. Look at these double ceilings, very, very high. These are the original floors. This is called venecita. The original carpentry here, just a very gorgeous old-school look to it. We’ll walk through here, an ample living room area with original wooden floors. And here you’ve got what, 4.50, 5 meter high ceilings. It’s so nice. AC in all rooms, and just very, very bright. Looks to the east, looks to the south, looks to the north.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, because often in Argentina you’ll have a problem with, you know, one part of the apartment being bright and then all these kind of dark rooms without windows.
MAX: Exactly. It’s worth noting that in this hemisphere north-facing is the best and south-facing is usually the darkest.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And so this, this has no HOA whatsoever?
MAX: It doesn’t. It has the uh, unique characteristic about it that it is a PH, which is like a stand-alone house, and so it does not have any homeowners association fees because there is no homeowners association.
LADISLAS MAURICE: No holding costs?
MAX: None.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Nice balcony.
MAX: Gorgeous balcony overlooking the street.
Overview of the Almagro neighborhood in Buenos Aires
LADISLAS MAURICE: So could you tell us a little bit more about this neighborhood?
MAX: Well, Almagro, obviously still within the city of BA, maybe 20 minutes from the downtown area, is I would say more of a subdued and residential, recess of the city of BA. I would say it’s middle-class to upper-middle-class and I would also say it’s uh, it’s growing. It has seen growth happening to it, more residential and a bit more laid back.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Would you say B+?
MAX: B+. Yes. A strong B+.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. And thereafter we’re going to go see a, an entire house in a triple A neighborhood, one of the your favorite deals you ever did with a past client.
MAX: One of my favorite deals, stand by for that one. Yep.
LADISLAS MAURICE: What do you think the rental income would be for such a house, because it’s what, three bedrooms?
Calculation of rental yield in Buenos Aires
MAX: This is a three-bedroom. The second bedroom has been uh, repurposed as a walk-in closet, but it is essentially a three-bedroom. So I think something like this could easily garner $1,500 to $1,800 a month.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So gross rental income of about 5 to 6%?
MAX: Yes, maybe even a little bit better than that because when you get a long-term tenant in here, he or she pays for the uh, entirety of all utilities. So it’s worth noting that once you rent it out long-term, you’re just getting the net of the rental fee you pay you every month. So that certainly is a plus when you compare it to say the Airbnb route or the short-term rental route.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Oh nice. And there’s a whole service area here.
MAX: Mhm.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Nice and spacious.
MAX: Yeah, it is essentially a three-story unit.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Compare this to what you would get in a major Western city or in, you know, in Australia, Canada, the US, Europe. Imagine an apartment, a house like this in a B+ neighborhood with all these historical features. I mean, the facade is absolutely gorgeous as well. This this unique view. I mean, there’s the bedroom right here. That’s the master bedroom.
MAX: Master bedroom, on suite.
LADISLAS MAURICE: But yeah, just imagine being here in Buenos Aires. I can’t get over this view. And right now it’s super sunny, so it’s a little tough on the eyes and all. But I can imagine around 5, 6 p.m., that’s would be perfect.
MAX: Sipping a nice Malbec, even now as we’re coming into the fall, the early fall, it’s beautiful in the evenings and in the early mornings just for sipping coffee. And like you said, you can’t get over this view. It just speaks to you. You know, it’s been known as the most beautiful cathedral in Buenos Aires, the Santa María Auxiliadora.
LADISLAS MAURICE: In any major city in the world, a place like this would probably never even make it onto the market. It would be sold off market when you have something this unique. But here, a place like this can linger on the market for a few months. You know, there’s a lack of liquidity in the market. The liquidity is improving. But if you come here with capital and you’re willing to look around and spend your time, and you know, Max can help with this. You can find gems like this. Again, roughly $1,500 a square meter.
MAX: Unheard of.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Great. So, next property?
MAX: Next property is, I’m smiling because it’s one of my favorites. It’s a story onto its own and I’ll tell you all about it. It is a stand-alone house in a sub-section of Recoleta, commonly referred to as La Isla, which is a retired area where there is, I think only the one house, and it’s this one. I frankly think you’re going to fall head over heels in love with this one.
Current real estate and mortgage market in Buenos Aires
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. Let’s go. So Max, why is there a lamp with a horse between my legs?
MAX: You weren’t complaining earlier about the horse between your legs, but uh, no, actually, we were just at a client’s and uh, we took this off his uh, off his hands, so we’re just going to store him for him at our office. Hey, when we say A-to-Z service, we mean A-to-Z service.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So Max, can you tell us a little bit about the market?
MAX: Well, the market’s been getting better. Part of that has to do with the fact that we are seeing a bit more in the way of loans from banks. Still not great, but there’s more of them. Given that the general market and the country in general is seeing some uptick in macroeconomics, that has also helped in in real estate sales. So you do see you’re seeing more sales now than you were a year ago and the year before that. In fact, February of this year was the best February in I think 17 years, our recent stats are indicating. Yep.
LADISLAS MAURICE: But it’s still a buyer’s market?
MAX: It still is a buyer’s market, to be sure. That’s not going to change, I don’t think, for the remainder of the year. It’s still going to continue to be a buyer’s market. You still have quite the overabundance of real estate.
Effect of “Blanqueo” on the real estate market
LADISLAS MAURICE: Did the Blanqueo, so the general amnesty for people that had undeclared funds, have a big impact on the market?
MAX: I think it did, because people all of a sudden were given the possibility of bringing in money, no questions asked. And one of the primary assets in Argentina is and always has been real estate. So it becomes a wonderful place where to park your money.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Are you seeing an uptick in foreigners investing in real estate?
MAX: Yes. Yes, we are. Thankfully, we are seeing people from far and wide. Yep. Every day we get requests or questions or people saying they’re coming down or just we send them information, but yeah, we absolutely are.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Where are most of your foreign clients from?
MAX: I would say predominantly, United States, Canada, Western Europe, pockets of Asia now more recently.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Can you elaborate?
MAX: China, Vietnam, one or two, Thailand, off the top of my head.
Buying real estate with crypto in Argentina
LADISLAS MAURICE: And are they paying with uh, crypto or with uh, just, you know, normal dollars?
MAX: No, just normal dollars. Um, we’ve had one or two instances where crypto was an actor in the transaction, but not in the sense of them paying, let’s say, 25 Ethereum for it, but rather converting Ethereum to a stable coin and then that stable coin into US dollars.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So I exchanged some crypto here in Argentina, some USDT, and I was given a premium of 25 basis points.
MAX: Yes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So it means that I was getting more dollars for my USDT than the than the face value of the USDT.
MAX: And we’ve heard that happening. We’ve heard that happening. What’s interesting is Argentina leads the charge in countries that use crypto in Latin America. Argentina is number one. And yet, we are still by design very traditional when it comes to methodology of payment. So crypto is not as heavily used as you might expect or as you might compare with other countries around the world.
LADISLAS MAURICE: What I found interesting about the fact that I was given a premium for my crypto is that it shows that there are still capital controls in the economy. Because people value crypto more than US dollars. That’s what it means than physical US dollars.
MAX: Wow.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So they pay, people will pay such a premium to get crypto that you when you exchange crypto, you also get a premium as well, because people want to get money out of the country. Essentially that’s what it comes down to. Um, capital controls, the only way or one of the only ways, one of the easiest ways to get money out is simply you take a suitcase full of cash, you go somewhere and um, you get crypto and then you can do whatever overseas. The place I went to, they deal with millions of dollars in cash per day. So you can just go there and exchange millions. If you want, you take that cash and then you can go buy you can go buy real estate and do whatever here in Argentina.
Tour of La Isla in Recoleta
LADISLAS MAURICE: Such a beautiful area.
MAX: This is one of the nicest areas. This is a sub-section of Recoleta, commonly referred to as La Isla. So yeah, this would be possibly a triple A location. If there were such a thing as a quadruple A location, that’s what this would be. You’ve got the Recoleta Cemetery two blocks away. You’ve got Plaza Francia. You’ve got major avenues all around. And at the same time, it’s a smaller, retired street, so it’s very, very quiet. This is an entire stand-alone house, which I would best compare to a New York brownstone. And this is just hands-down one of my favorite stories to tell, one of my favorite transactions that I was involved in for many, many reasons. While the outside of it is beautiful, when you see the inside of it, uh, I used to call it Wayne Manor, but I think it’s closer to a Downton Abbey with all of the accoutrements and all the things that our current tenant has done to it, but just the beauty itself of the old style and flare of this house.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And there’s a bit of history as well in with regards to the deal, how much your client paid for it.
MAX: There was, there was a history. The house, first of all, it’s important to remember that this transaction happened during the height of the pandemic and when we were already at a very profound buyer’s market. The gentleman who was selling this needed to sell. My client, a gentleman from Western end of the United States, reached out, said, I’m given to understand you help foreigners buy real estate. I saw this property. I’d like to have a look at it. I can be down in in in Argentina next month. I had a look. I did the due diligence. The price was ridiculously low for what this product should be. This was a house that at first was listed at 1.2 million, then it was brought down to 1.1, then to 900. It was listed at $750,000, which in and of its own was a very, very appealing price for upwards of 400 square meters. We came in with an offer of about 690 and landed at 700,000 fully furnished, which was just a complete steal. So much so that later that year, a couple of colleagues of mine said, are you the one who sold that property? You snagged that from right under me. So uh, but again, that in my mind is secondary to what the actual product is, which when you see it again, I think you’re really, really, all of you are really going to enjoy it.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, let’s go check it out. Yep.
Tour of a 5-story house in Recoleta
MAX: All right. So welcome. Come on in. So here we are at the house. This is a five-story house. Here on the ground floor, you’ve got a bedroom, you’ve got a study, and you’ve got down below what used to be a car space, which has been really, really nicely repurposed as a gym.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And then there’s an elevator, right?
MAX: And there is an elevator, which leads you all the way up. So now if you’ll come with me, we’re going to go meet Rodney, who’s our long-term tenant. Right this way. Hey Rodney.
Interview with American tenant in Recoleta
RODNEY: Hey Max.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Hello Rodney, how are you?
RODNEY: I’m wonderful. How are you?
LADISLAS MAURICE: Good. Beautiful home.
RODNEY: Good. Thank you very much. I put a lot of work into it.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So Rodney, how long have you been here in Argentina?
RODNEY: I’ve been in Argentina now for about six years.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And originally from?
RODNEY: Chicago.
LADISLAS MAURICE: What made you come here?
RODNEY: Uh, I’ve been visiting Argentina now for about 14 years. I’ve lived here for about six years. Uh, but I was uh, formerly married to an Argentine. Uh, so once we lived in the United States for a little while, we moved to Buenos Aires and long after the divorce, I decided to just to continue in Buenos Aires because I love Argentina.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Fantastic. So now you work remotely or do you work in an office?
RODNEY: I work remotely. Yes. All of my work is remotely. All of my work is in the US and in in London. Uh, but 100% remote.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Nice background.
RODNEY: Thank you.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Better than the average Zoom background.
RODNEY: I don’t understand most of the books because it’s all in Spanish, but they look good. Uh, I would love to show you the house if you’d like to see it.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Thank you. Wonderful.
RODNEY: So this is the space where I like to say all the action happens, because this is where I do most of my work, entertain most of my guests, my office slash study. Uh, love having guests when people are piano players because I am not, but it was a beautiful piano. Uh, this room is a, we’ve converted it into a bar lounge, and it’s exactly as is, as I’ve said, a bar lounge, uh, cigars, brandy, people hang out and just chill, listen to jazz. Take you up the stairs. Uh, upstairs, it’s five floors, so there’s a lot of stairs to walk. Um, so it’s not good for people with bad knees. Yeah. This is a floor where we actually spend most of our casual time. This room is serves as a our casual living room where we sit and play PlayStation, watch movies, all other fun stuff. Let’s go this way. Dining room area. I like to entertain, and do a lot of entertaining, so this is where our more formal dinner parties happen, which uh, are frequent.
LADISLAS MAURICE: I love the artwork.
RODNEY: Thank you very much. A lot of the artwork in this room, particularly, is originally with the house. Uh, the only artwork that’s mine in here is the are those paintings, which are local Argentine artists. The others were originally with the house. Kitchen area. I love to cook. I do a lot of cooking. Anything from gourmet to basic hot dogs. I do a lot of cooking. Uh, all spices that I’ve imported from the US because Argentines are not known for their spices. Uh, this is an area where I have my morning coffee and breakfast every morning. I like to call it my Zen Garden. It’s interesting that this house is literally in the middle of the city, but it’s very quiet. It feels like you are in a suburb somewhere, so there’s not a lot of outside noise.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Nor is it very polluted?
RODNEY: It’s not. It’s not very polluted. Uh, it’s an area of the city that a lot of people don’t actually even know exists. So, oftentimes I talk to taxi drivers or Uber and say La Isla, and people who are lifelong Argentinas or Buenos Aires don’t know where La Isla is.
LADISLAS MAURICE: I had exactly this in a taxi.
RODNEY: Most people have no idea where La Isla is. I like to call it one of the city’s best kept secrets. It’s a very exclusive area. Uh, most of the people in the area I’ve gotten to know really well, uh, but people who are not in the area, because there’s no retail, there’s no businesses, there’s no nothing in the area. So, people are not in the area without purpose. So, again, you have the luxury of living in a large city, but in a pretty reserved, exclusive area. This is my spa. This is my downtime. This is where I use my jacuzzi pretty much every day. We use our sauna pretty much every day. It’s nice to have an in-home sauna, actually. Uh, but those things get used pretty much every day. Turn my favorite Netflix shows on with a glass of champagne, sit in the jacuzzi, and that’s where I am. I’m guessing you guys have no interest in the closets, but if you want, I’ll show you the closets.
LADISLAS MAURICE: You can show your collection of shoes or something.
RODNEY: I have quite a I have quite a collection of shoes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Nice. Nice closet space.
RODNEY: Thank you.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. Nice. Nice. Very nice.
RODNEY: This is only a small fraction of my shoe collection. So now we’ll go up to the terrace and I think technically the fifth floor. One of the great things about this space, I and I say this, other than the day it’s different, uh, it’s a beautiful outdoor space in the middle of the city that feels like you’re in a suburb somewhere. Uh, it’s very relaxing, a couple of blocks from major intersection and you don’t get any of the activity and all the noise and all the busyness from that, except when there’s construction across the street as there is right now. But It’s a city, it’s to be expected. This is also direct, I don’t know if you mentioned, directly across the street from the Ministry of Defense. Sometimes they have a lot of construction stuff going in there on the weekends, but this area, we do a lot of weekend asados out here. We’re going to have movie nights out here and this is my house. This is home. This is home.
MAX: Thank you to Rodney. Thanks for opening up your home. You’ve made it such a beautiful place.
RODNEY: Thank you.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Uh, and well, yeah, this is, this is the house and it’s still, as Rodney mentioned, it’s hard to believe that we are two blocks away from the intersection of two very important avenues. The Recoleta Cemetery is due that way, about a block and a half. Parks all around. So, this is just a great location, very quiet, and a unique product, which is the stand-alone house.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And since this house was bought, the price is what, 2X or something?
MAX: I think it’s safe to say the property value on this would have 2Xed. Yes, for sure. Conservatively.
Liquidity of luxury Buenos Aires real estate
LADISLAS MAURICE: Not because of market dynamics, uh, but just because of the deal and the really like, if you come to Buenos Aires and I think this is really important for people to understand. If you just want to buy a studio or a one-bedroom, you’re not going to get a great deal because that’s where all the liquidity is. That’s how Argentines save their money. They just buy studios, they buy one-bedrooms. They’re relatively easy to sell. It’s a low entry point. But because there are no mortgages, the higher up you go in terms of pricing, the less of a market there is. And at some point, there’s really not that much liquidity. This is how you can get really good deals once you start looking from what, 300, 400, 500,000?
MAX: I would say so, about 400, 500 and upward. And if you can find that diamond in the rough and this as it continues to be a buyer’s market and since there continues to be an overabundance of real estate in Argentina, in the city of Buenos Aires at least, uh, you are bound to find these diamonds in the rough, for sure.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Abundance of very nice properties.
MAX: Of very nice properties.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. I think this is the key message of this video is, look, we’re not looking at rental yields here. Um, you know, you might make 3% gross, something like that. It’s not a rental play. But if you come here and you have an above-average budget and you’re patient, you can find very, very interesting deals and make the lack of liquidity essentially your strategy to get into this market.
How to contact Max for Buenos Aires real estate
LADISLAS MAURICE: I wrote a whole article on the real estate market here in Buenos Aires, the neighborhoods that are interesting, the neighborhoods you should avoid, some key learnings. There’s a link below. And if you want to get in touch with Max, he can help people from A to Z finding property.
MAX: Absolutely.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Management.
MAX: One stop shop.
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. Fantastic. So there’s also a link below for Max. Max, thank you very much.
MAX: Always good to see you.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And Rodney, thank you again so much.
RODNEY: My pleasure. My pleasure.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Make sure to download my free ebook, 12 Mistakes to Avoid When Investing in International Real Estate, which you can find on my website, link below. And feel free to follow me on Instagram @thewanderinginvestor. I look forward to hearing from you.
