Get all the data you need about the real estate market in Buenos Aires

Thinking of buying real estate in Buenos Aires?

Acquiring property in a different country is a complex task. Don't fall into common traps – grab our guide and make better decisions.

Download Now

Where is the best place to buy in Buenos Aires?

Is there really one best neighborhood to buy in Buenos Aires?

For most investors buying in Buenos Aires today, Caballito is the strongest all-around choice.

Calling one neighborhood “the best” only makes sense once we decide what we are optimizing for. Someone running furnished tourist rentals will probably prefer Palermo. Someone looking for maximum gross yield can find much higher numbers in Lugano or La Boca. A buyer trying to preserve wealth in a modern luxury apartment may still look at Puerto Madero.

For a more typical investor, however, we want several things at once: a reasonable purchase price, enough rent to make the numbers work, plenty of potential tenants, decent resale liquidity and some room for prices to rise. Caballito currently gets closest to that combination.

The latest IDECBA figures put a used two-room apartment in Caballito at around US$2,317/m². Comparable asking prices reach about US$3,118 in Palermo, US$2,958 in Belgrano and US$2,775 in Villa Urquiza. Rents are much closer together. A typical two-room asking rent was around ARS 767,000 in Caballito, against ARS 839,000 in Palermo and ARS 817,000 in Villa Urquiza.

That gap is hard to ignore. Palermo costs roughly a third more per square metre than Caballito, while its typical rent is less than 10% higher. Villa Urquiza also asks around 20% more to buy while producing only a modest rent premium.

Zonaprop's current rental index points in the same direction. The citywide gross yield sits around 5.76%, and Caballito is close to that level while several premium northern districts fall below it. Caballito also has Line A, Line E, the Sarmiento railway and a huge year-round residential market. We do not need tourists or one trendy strip to keep an ordinary one-bedroom apartment occupied.

Why has choosing where to buy in Buenos Aires become harder lately?

Buenos Aires has moved beyond the obvious bargain phase, so simply buying a decent apartment in a famous neighborhood is no longer enough.

Zonaprop currently puts the average city apartment around US$2,471/m². Prices are up only 1.3% over twelve months and remain 11.7% below the historical high. The recovery is still there, but it has become slow and selective.

Completed sales tell a slightly different story. According to the latest Colegio de Escribanos release, 6,051 purchase deeds were signed in the latest reported month. That was the strongest month of the year and one of the strongest comparable months since before the global financial crisis. The first seven reported months produced 35,528 transactions, only 1.8% fewer than during the unusually active same period a year earlier.

So buyers are back, but they are not bidding every neighborhood up at the same speed.

IDECBA's latest neighborhood data make that clear. Used two-room asking prices climbed 10.1% year over year in Núñez and 6.3% in Saavedra. Caballito rose just 0.9%, Palermo 0.9% and Villa Urquiza 1.1%. Recoleta slipped 1.9%.

That spread is now more useful than the citywide average. The Buenos Aires market these days contains neighborhoods that have already rerated, others that are barely moving and a few where prices have actually gone backward. Picking the right area has become much more important.

Don't buy the wrong property, in the wrong area of Buenos Aires

Buying real estate is a significant investment. Don't rely solely on your intuition. Gather the right information to make the best decision.

Get the data

Are Buenos Aires apartments still cheap today?

Buenos Aires apartments still look cheap compared with the previous property cycle, especially in the used market, but the discount has narrowed enough that we have to be selective.

Zonaprop's city average remains 11.7% below its historical peak. IDECBA shows an even bigger difference once we separate new and used apartments. Used properties remain roughly 19% below their former high, while new units are only around 2% below theirs.

That is one of the clearest opportunities we found in the market.

A new two-room apartment currently averages roughly US$3,215/m² in the official data. A used equivalent is closer to US$2,343/m². For three-room apartments, the gap widens from roughly US$2,160/m² used to US$3,349/m² new.

Some of that premium is deserved. New buildings can offer better insulation, balconies, amenities and lower immediate renovation costs. Paying 37% more for a typical two-room unit or roughly 55% more for a three-room unit is much harder to justify purely through those advantages.

There is still value in Buenos Aires, but much more of it sits inside ordinary used buildings than shiny new developments.

Is Caballito really the best place to buy in Buenos Aires right now?

Caballito currently gives us more usable property for the money than the fashionable northern neighborhoods without forcing us into a weaker rental market.

The numbers are unusually clean. A used two-room apartment costs around US$2,317/m² according to IDECBA. That is about 26% below Palermo, 22% below Belgrano and 17% below Villa Urquiza.

The rental discount is tiny by comparison. Caballito's typical two-room asking rent is only around 9% below Palermo's and 6% below Villa Urquiza's.

Someone buying 45 m² illustrates the difference. At the official neighborhood averages, the apartment would cost roughly US$104,000 in Caballito, US$125,000 in Villa Urquiza and US$140,000 in Palermo. The tenant in Palermo does not pay anything close to US$36,000 more worth of rent over a normal investment horizon.

Caballito has also avoided the recent price jump seen in some northern areas. Used two-room asking prices have barely moved over twelve months. That does not guarantee future appreciation, but we would rather enter an established neighborhood before a rerating than immediately after a 10% annual jump.

The neighborhood itself is already mature. Avenida Rivadavia, Parque Rivadavia, Primera Junta, the subway network and the Sarmiento line create demand from people who actually live and work in Buenos Aires. Caballito does not have to become the next Palermo for the investment case to work.

Get to know the market before buying a property in Buenos Aires

Better information leads to better decisions. Get all the data you need before investing a large amount of money.

Get the data

Could Villa Urquiza become a better investment than Caballito?

Villa Urquiza has a stronger long-term growth story than Caballito, although buyers are already paying quite a lot for that story.

The appeal is easy to understand on the ground. Line B reaches the neighborhood, the Mitre railway adds another connection and the area around Triunvirato, Monroe, Congreso and Olazábal has filled with newer residential projects, restaurants and services. Villa Urquiza increasingly competes with the established north of the city rather than the cheaper outer neighborhoods.

Prices reflect that change. A used two-room apartment now averages roughly US$2,775/m², about 20% above Caballito. Three-room prices have recently risen 4.3% year over year, compared with less than 1% in Caballito.

The stronger appreciation does not automatically make Villa Urquiza the better buy. Current gross rental returns are closer to the low-to-mid 5% range, and the initial investment is materially higher.

We like Villa Urquiza most when the buyer has a long horizon and finds a used apartment close to Line B or the train at a sensible price. Paying a large premium for a brand-new development weakens the case considerably.

Is Villa Crespo now a better property investment than Palermo?

For a long-term investor, Villa Crespo currently offers a much better price-to-rent equation than Palermo.

IDECBA puts a used two-room apartment around US$2,413/m² in Villa Crespo and US$3,118/m² in Palermo. Villa Crespo therefore costs roughly 23% less.

Now compare the rents. The typical two-room asking rent is around ARS 795,000 in Villa Crespo and ARS 839,000 in Palermo. That difference is only about 5%.

We are paying almost a quarter less to buy while giving up very little rent.

Villa Crespo also benefits from something that no longer needs much speculation. The neighborhood directly borders Palermo, Line B runs through it, and Córdoba and Corrientes provide two major commercial corridors. Restaurants, cafés and newer apartments have spread well beyond the old Palermo boundaries over many years.

Palermo still wins on international name recognition. Foreign tenants know Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood before they arrive in the country, which helps enormously with short-term rentals and eventual resale to another international buyer.

For ordinary long-term renting, however, Villa Crespo is difficult to beat. We get much of Palermo's demand without paying Palermo's full entrance fee.

Buying real estate in Buenos Aires can be risky

An increasing number of foreign investors are showing interest. However, 90% of them will make mistakes. Avoid the pitfalls with our comprehensive guide.

Download Now

Is Palermo still worth buying at today's prices?

Palermo is still worth buying when liquidity, tourism and furnished rentals matter more than squeezing out the highest long-term return.

Palermo remains the deepest premium apartment market in Buenos Aires. IDECBA's latest sale report shows that Palermo alone represents 13.7% of the city's apartments advertised for sale. The broader northern districts also dominate dollar-denominated rentals.

That scale is useful. There are always buyers, tenants, brokers and comparable apartments around, which makes pricing easier and resale less dependent on finding one unusually specific buyer.

Foreign demand adds another layer. Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood are internationally recognizable in a way that Caballito or Villa Urquiza simply are not. For someone operating furnished rentals, that visibility can be worth paying for.

The financial trade-off is obvious. Used two-room asking prices around US$3,118/m² sit far above Villa Crespo and Caballito, while conventional rents are only modestly higher. Recent price growth has also been weak, with the official two-room measure up less than 1% over twelve months.

We would happily own the right Palermo apartment, particularly a compact unit in a walkable area with low expensas. We would just require a better purchase price because the neighborhood name already carries a substantial premium.

Are Núñez, Belgrano and Colegiales becoming better places to buy?

Núñez, Belgrano and Colegiales remain excellent residential markets, but today's buyer has to be careful about chasing the north after several years of strong demand.

Núñez is the clearest example. Used two-room asking prices have recently risen 10.1% year over year to around US$3,266/m². That is the fastest increase among the major neighborhoods we compared and puts Núñez above Palermo on this particular measure.

Rental demand is strong as well. A typical two-room asking rent is around ARS 870,000 in Núñez, while three-room apartments reach roughly ARS 1.4 million. Families value the residential streets, schools, train access and proximity to the northern corridor.

Belgrano looks steadier. Used two-room apartments average about US$2,958/m², while three-room units are near US$2,797/m². Colegiales comes in lower at roughly US$2,779/m² for a used two-room apartment and has benefited from the same northward demand without becoming as expensive as Núñez.

Among the three, Colegiales interests us most at the right price because it sits between Palermo and Belgrano while retaining scarcer, lower-density residential pockets. Núñez has arguably the best recent momentum, but momentum becomes less attractive once everyone is already paying for it.

Don't lose money on your property in Buenos Aires

100% of people who have lost money there have spent less than 1 hour researching the market. We have reviewed everything there is to know. Grab our guide now.

Download Now

Is Recoleta actually cheap for such a famous Buenos Aires neighborhood?

Recoleta looks surprisingly cheap relative to other prime Buenos Aires neighborhoods right now, although building quality can completely change the deal.

A used two-room apartment averages roughly US$2,680/m² according to the latest IDECBA figures. That puts Recoleta below Palermo, Belgrano, Núñez, Colegiales and Villa Urquiza.

Recent performance has also been weak. Two-room asking prices fell around 1.9% year over year, while three-room prices slipped about 1.4%. During the same period, buyers pushed prices noticeably higher in Núñez, Saavedra, Colegiales and parts of Belgrano.

That creates an unusual situation. Recoleta still has its hospitals, universities, restaurants, architecture, central location and international recognition, but investors have lately been more excited by newer northern neighborhoods.

The problem often sits inside the building rather than the neighborhood. Recoleta has a lot of large, older apartments with doormen, central systems and expensive common charges. A US$2,500/m² apartment can quickly stop looking cheap if expensas are enormous or the unit needs a complete renovation.

We would look hardest at renovated one- and two-bedroom apartments in well-managed buildings. Recoleta is one of the few prime areas where the neighborhood itself may currently be priced more conservatively than its reputation suggests.

Is Puerto Madero a good place to invest in Buenos Aires property?

Puerto Madero makes much more sense as a luxury asset than as a normal rental investment today.

The entry price sits in another category. IDECBA puts used two-room apartments around US$5,805/m² and three-room apartments around US$5,582/m². Some studio averages exceed US$6,000/m².

For comparison, Caballito sits near US$2,300/m², Villa Crespo around US$2,400 and Palermo just above US$3,100 for comparable used two-room stock.

Rents do not make up that difference. Zonaprop's current yield data place the city average at 5.76%, with Lugano and La Boca leading the ranking. Puerto Madero sits near the opposite end and has historically produced gross yields around the mid-3% range.

Someone buying there is paying for newer towers, security, amenities, parking, views, modern layouts and a neighborhood that wealthy international buyers understand immediately. Those features have real value.

They simply lead to a different type of investment. We would consider Puerto Madero for capital preservation, lifestyle or a buyer who specifically wants a high-end dollarized asset. For rental income, spending roughly twice Caballito's price per square metre makes little sense.

Get the full checklist for your due diligence in Buenos Aires

Don't repeat the same mistakes others have made before you. Make sure everything is in order before signing your sales contract.

Download Now

Do cheap neighborhoods like Lugano and La Boca actually give better returns?

Lugano and La Boca currently produce some of the highest headline rental yields in Buenos Aires, but those returns come with much more resale and location risk.

Zonaprop's latest rental index explicitly identifies Lugano and La Boca as the city's strongest neighborhoods for investors focused on rent. That conclusion is largely driven by extremely low purchase prices.

IDECBA puts a typical used three-room apartment around US$974/m² in Villa Lugano and US$1,343/m² in La Boca. Caballito is closer to US$2,181, while Palermo reaches roughly US$2,855.

The cheaper purchase price makes a normal peso rent look enormous as a percentage of the capital invested.

But an investor eventually has to sell. Lugano's three-room asking prices recently fell 3.3% year over year, and both neighborhoods have a thinner affluent buyer pool than Caballito, Palermo or Villa Urquiza. In La Boca, moving only a few blocks can also change the attractiveness of a property dramatically.

An experienced local buyer who knows the exact streets, tenant base and buildings can make those numbers work very well. We would be much more cautious recommending the same strategy to a foreign buyer looking for a straightforward first apartment in Buenos Aires.

Does Airbnb make Palermo the best neighborhood to buy in Buenos Aires?

Palermo probably becomes the best neighborhood once the strategy is specifically short-term furnished rentals.

Tourism changes the economics because visitors choose neighborhoods differently from local long-term tenants. A foreign tourist often arrives already searching for Palermo Soho, Palermo Hollywood, Recoleta or San Telmo. Caballito may offer better conventional investment numbers, but it does not have the same international search demand.

Recent tourism numbers remain supportive. The Buenos Aires tourism authority reported more than half a million international visitors during the first two reported months of the year, with arrivals running ahead of the comparable period a year earlier. Tourism has clearly recovered enough that furnished rental demand cannot be treated as a niche side market anymore.

Palermo has the biggest advantage because its restaurants, nightlife, cafés, walkability and global recognition all line up with what temporary visitors want. A well-run apartment can therefore earn much more per occupied night than it would under a normal residential lease.

There is more work involved. Buenos Aires currently requires tourist rental properties to be registered through the city's Registro de Alquileres Temporarios Turísticos. The owner or operator must provide ownership documentation, comply with safety requirements, carry third-party liability coverage and supply the building's co-ownership regulations when the unit is in a condominium building. The registration itself is currently free.

Before buying specifically for Airbnb, we would check the building rules first and model occupancy, management, cleaning and platform costs rather than relying on nightly rates alone.

For someone who wants a relatively passive tenant for one or two years, Palermo loses much of this advantage. For someone deliberately running short stays, Palermo deserves first place.

Don't sign a document you don't understand in Buenos Aires

Buying a property over there? We have reviewed all the documents you need to know. Stay out of trouble - grab our comprehensive guide.

Download Now

Should you buy a new or used apartment in Buenos Aires now?

We would strongly favor a good used apartment in Buenos Aires today because new-build premiums have become too large in most neighborhoods.

The latest official sale data show a roughly 37% citywide premium for new two-room apartments and about 55% for new three-room apartments.

That gap becomes concrete very quickly. At the current averages, 50 m² of used two-room stock costs roughly US$117,000. At the new-build average, the same 50 m² reaches around US$161,000.

The new apartment would need to recover more than US$40,000 through higher rent, lower maintenance, better resale or stronger appreciation simply to close the initial gap.

The position within the property cycle makes us even less enthusiastic about paying that premium. New apartments have already returned to within roughly 2% of their historical price high. Used apartments remain around 19% below theirs.

New construction can still win when the individual project is excellent, the payment schedule is attractive or the buyer values modern amenities enough to pay for them. As a pure investment decision, though, the current numbers push us toward used stock.

What can US$100,000 actually buy in the best Buenos Aires neighborhoods?

US$100,000 still buys a normal used one-bedroom apartment in Caballito or Villa Crespo, while the same budget increasingly pushes buyers toward very small units in Palermo, Belgrano and Núñez.

At IDECBA's current used two-room averages, US$100,000 represents roughly 43 m² in Caballito and 41 m² in Villa Crespo. Villa Urquiza falls to about 36 m², Belgrano to 34 m², Palermo to 32 m² and Núñez to around 31 m².

Those differences change the tenant pool. Around 40 to 45 m² is enough for a normal one-bedroom layout in many Buenos Aires buildings. At 30 to 32 m², the buyer is much more likely to end up with a studio or a very compact one-bedroom apartment.

IDECBA's rental data help explain why we prefer the middle ground. Studios and two-room apartments together represent almost three quarters of peso-denominated rental listings, with two-room units alone accounting for roughly 41%. One-bedroom apartments therefore sit right in the heart of the city's rental market.

US$100,000 in Caballito gives us a realistic chance of buying that mainstream product. In Palermo or Núñez, the same budget often forces a compromise on size, condition or exact location.

Get fresh and reliable information about the market in Buenos Aires

Don't base significant investment decisions on outdated data. Get updated and accurate information.

Get the data

Is Buenos Aires property easy enough to resell today?

Buenos Aires property is trading actively again, so a normal apartment in a mainstream neighborhood is much easier to resell than it was during the market's weak years.

The latest deed numbers are strong. The Colegio de Escribanos recorded 6,051 purchases in the newest reported month, up slightly from the previous month. The first seven reported months reached 35,528 transactions.

The more interesting part is how the market produced those sales. Only 959 of the latest month's purchases involved mortgages, down 31.2% from a year earlier. Mortgage-backed deeds are down roughly 36% over the first seven reported months.

Yet total sales for that same seven-month period are only 1.8% below last year's unusually strong level.

As seen above, transaction activity is therefore holding up even while mortgage activity has dropped sharply. There is still a large cash or non-mortgage buyer base supporting the market.

Resale risk still changes dramatically by property. A standard one-bedroom apartment in Caballito, Palermo, Villa Crespo, Belgrano or Villa Urquiza has thousands of comparable buyers and tenants. A huge old apartment with high expensas, a luxury tower bought at an extreme price or a property in a weak micro-location can take much longer.

For a buyer who may need to exit within a few years, we would favor ordinary layouts in neighborhoods with deep local demand over unusual properties that look more exciting in a listing.

So where is the best place to buy in Buenos Aires today?

Caballito is our top choice in Buenos Aires right now, with Villa Crespo a very close second and Villa Urquiza the better option for someone willing to pay more for future growth.

Caballito wins because its numbers keep lining up. Used two-room apartments cost around US$2,317/m², substantially below Palermo, Belgrano and Villa Urquiza. Rents do not fall by anything close to the same proportion. Public transport is excellent, the tenant base is broad and the neighborhood does not depend on tourism to stay liquid.

Villa Crespo may offer the most interesting pure value gap. Buyers currently pay around 23% less per square metre than in Palermo while typical two-room rents differ by only about 5%. If we find a good apartment close to Line B or the Palermo border, that is a very hard equation to dismiss.

Villa Urquiza comes next for a different reason. The neighborhood has the stronger long-term transformation story, newer residential stock and good transport, but its higher prices mean we are paying in advance for part of that future.

Palermo remains the easiest answer for a short-term-rental operator or someone who values international liquidity. Recoleta deserves more attention than it currently receives, particularly for renovated smaller apartments in buildings with reasonable costs. Núñez is excellent but has already become expensive after a sharp recent rise. Puerto Madero is difficult to justify for income. Lugano and La Boca can produce impressive yields, although we would leave those markets to buyers comfortable with much greater micro-location and resale risk.

The property we would look for first is a used one-bedroom apartment of roughly 40 to 50 m² in Caballito or Villa Crespo, close to rapid transit, with low-to-reasonable expensas and no major building work looming. At around US$100,000, buyers can still realistically find that type of apartment today.

That combination gives us what Buenos Aires investors should be looking for now: enough rent to justify owning the property, a price that has not already absorbed years of optimism and a large pool of people who could rent or buy the apartment later.

Get to know the market before buying a property in Buenos Aires

Better information leads to better decisions. Get all the data you need before investing a large amount of money.

Get the data

Buying real estate in Buenos Aires can be risky

An increasing number of foreign investors are showing interest. However, 90% of them will make mistakes. Avoid the pitfalls with our comprehensive guide.

Download Now

Who is the author of this content?

THE LATINVESTOR

A team specialized in real estate investing in LATAM countries

We are a team of financial experts, legal professionals, developers, and local real estate specialists dedicated to helping people like you avoid mistakes when investing in real estate in a foreign place, particularly in Buenos Aires. If you’d like to learn more about us, you can check our presentation page.