Prices for temporary rentals

[sesamosinsal]

The peso has gone from close to 3 pesos in january 09 to close to 4 pesos today, so it in effect has lost around 1/3 of its value in 1 1/2 years.

Other countries that are commodity exporting economies, like arg have gone the other way, NZD from 1.70 to 1.40 to a US$, AUD 1.40 to 1.10,BRL 2.30 to 1.80.
Why is that ?
I know NZ, AU and BR currencies have gone up against the US$ because exports have increased, and their economies are growing, why hasnt the AR peso gone up also ?

From what a local ecomonist told me the only reason the peso hasnt dropped further is because the arg central bank is spending 100 of millions US$ buying the peso back, which is keeping it artificially strong. How long can they keep doing this ?

USD/ARS was at 3.50sh almost immediately after the financial crisis. It, like most currencies, totally caved. USD/BRL reached 2.60, after being at around 1.56 in late July 2008. The big difference between USD/ARS and most other currencies around the world and in the region is that it never recovered.

 

[qwerty]

Dollar - Real

20-7-2008: 1,58
20-7-2009: 1,92
20-7-2010: 1,77

Dollar - Peso

20-7-2008: 3,02
20-7-2009: 3,75
20-7-2010: 3,93

If you go with the trend the dollar will soon reach 4,20-4,50. The industrial lobby also clearly wants that

 

[qwerty]

A small bump.

Is there in your opinion still a influx of new 'temp-tourists' or was this basically for the 2005-2008 period and would international tourism suffer if many long term expats would leave(family and friends coming over)

 

[HotYogaTeacher]

BA is NOTHING like Sydney, one of the cleanest, most organized, beautiful cities I've ever visited. And you're right, it's nothing like NY either. Yes, it does matter to tourists what countries in SA are cheap. It's why it took so long for the people on this site to start admitting that prices were getting crazy. They needed to believe it was cheap because otherwise why stay where it's dirty, disorganized and frustrating, unless you tango or work here. Tourists are shocked when they come here how expensive it is and they talk about it when they go home. If you think that doesn't effect tourism, think again. They need to get prices down otherwise there is no reason to keep this place on the list rather than some other city in a Spanish speaking country elsewhere...

 

[qwerty]

International arrivals in 2010 compared to 2009 are up, so far you are not right.

I also don't think BA is extremely expensive if you are just a visitor. BA is also not extremly expensive(not cheap neither) and it's expensive if you are here depending on the local economy. My guess the last group is the first to leave, eventhough it's not really happening as far as I can tell

 

[SaraSara]

A friend recently returned from a visit to New York City, and found prices there cheaper than here. That was my experience in Washington, too. Argentina was cheap for about four years after the devaluation, but it is now ridiculously expensive. I read that accounting for inflation, in dollar terms prices are now higher than during the "uno a uno".

I recently paid fifty dollars for a pasta lunch for two: one entree and one coffee apiece, no wine, and only one dessert. It was in a nondescript Belgrano restaurant.

 

[qwerty]

A friend recently returned from a visit to New York City, and found prices there cheaper than here. That was my experience in Washington, too. Argentina was cheap for about four years after the devaluation, but it is now ridiculously expensive.

I recently paid fifty dollars for a pasta lunch for two: one entree and one coffee apiece, no wine, and only one dessert. It was in a nondescript Belgrano restaurant.

I am not regular going to fancy restaurants, but I can eat a decent meal for about 25-35 peso. A good night out is about 100 peso, going to the movies for 2 is about 50-60 peso and I can rent a 2 room appartment in the most expensive part of town for about 1500 dollar a month(probally around 1000 if I would sign a 2 year lease) and a bus or subte trip is about 1 peso

Maybe prices have halved in NY since I last was there but somehow I think you can't pull that off in NY

 

[SaraSara]

My point is, this was NOT a fancy restaurant, just a nice neighborhood place. With the tip, it came to exactly $195. We won't be back, obviously.

A week before that I had paid US$145 for a dinner for three at a trendy Old Town Alexandria restaurant - and one of my guests ordered lobster.

 

[qwerty]

My point is, this was NOT a fancy restaurant, just a nice neighborhood place. With the tip, it came to exactly $195. We won't be back, obviously.

So they will be out of business soon...

A dinner like that in a nice place you can probally get it for around 120 peso and that would most likely be cheaper then in NY

 

[A&A]

NYC you can't make it out the door and back for less than $40 no matter what you do, unless its go for a jog. (small bottle of water $2).

There is always a way in every City to live on the cheap, or live lavish, so it is hard to compare. The experience of a 24 year old in a major city, vs say a 54 year old, and what they think is "fancy", or expensive, the neighborhoods they are willing or not willing to go to, what they will eat, etc. Cannot compare.

I will say that comparing some fixed cost items BA is still pretty cheap (especially services: compare health care costs, taxi rides, language lessons, mass transit, food staples) When you start to compare things like "average" apartment or "normal restaurant" it's tougher.

I can say from my experience there $195 for that kind of a meal is way high. I went with 6 people to To (sushi) and we ate everything, plus 4 bottles of wine, cocktails, shared dessert (we were celebrating not a normal meal)and the total was $1100 pesos.....*get out the calculator*... about U$S265. Now sure if you earned pesos it felt like an 1100 meal and in NYC would have been U$S 1100 or even more. But factoring in the exchange rate...its an amazing deal.

So perhaps this also influences the way people see it.