Punta del Este

[SaraSara]

Uruguay doesn't tax foreign passive income - rentals, investments or pensions. That's an added attraction.

Agricultural land is still cheaper on the other side of the river. Utilities are much higher, and not very reliable. Internet speed is low.

All in all, I would say that Uruguay's cost of living is about a third higher than Buenos Aires'.

 

[Rad]

How long will this hold under Pepe?

But if I still wanted to invest a little money in Uruguay, I would choose Atlantida or Piriapolis. Much better value for money.

 

[perry]

Gouchobob we were discussing Uruguay and you changed the subject to Argentina as you always do you had to throw in a snide remark about the government and the country .
Now I have not changed the subject from Uruguay as you are stating something completely untrue that it is a safer country due to your sheltered experience living in a country in Punta Del Este . This is hardly a comparison as well of a country . Have you ever been to Rio Negro . Chubut , Tierra Del Fuego ? . I do not see bars on the windows at all and people are relaxed and very friendly. I lived three months in Epuyen Rio Negro recently and people leave the doors open there as well as leaving their bikes unlocked.

Montevideo is very well known as being unsafe and from my own personal experiences in the city and speaking to taxi drivers there seems to be more crime than Buenos Aires . If the city was so safe why then do taxi drivers in Montevideo have security screens ?

 

[SaraSara]

The locals believe Pepe won't change much. Uruguayans are eminently sane people, and have no wish to kill the goose that lays golden eggs.

 

[Futboljunkie]

Because it's the law

 

[SaraSara]

Chacras in supposedly safe Colonia are being burglarized. So far most of the crime is property crime, without much personal violence - local burglars prefer to wait until a house is vacant before breaking in. But there's a growing paco presence, and that will probably change.

Montevideo has already changed, and there are now purse snatchings and armed holdups in posh areas like Pocitos.

 

[Davidglen77]

A 7.5 million dollar apartment is "upscale" in more places than South America. You can buy a house on the Pacific Palisades for that money.

This is the Acqua building - the Dutch couple bought the penthouse flat. It comes complete with marble floors and a large terrace with a private infinity pool. A lower floor apartment sold for seven million dollars - a real bargain.

http://www.acqua.com.uy/v.02/Punta-del-Este.html

That is SOME building. There are apartments with 17,000 sq. ft of living space. I lived in New York City most of my life and I knew people who had what are considered big apartments on the upper east side, 6-7,000 sq. ft. A 17,000 sq. ft. apartment is unheard of. Must be nice!!

 

[Futboljunkie]

How long will this hold under Pepe?

Forever, there is a big influx of extremely rich foreigners(especially Germans)

 

[Rad]

Forever, there is a big influx of extremely rich foreigners(especially Germans)

I talked to some people in PDE. Most of them were from Brazil or Argentina. None were from Europe.

I know that some european real estate companies are discovering Uruguay, but saying that there is a big influx of extremely rich foreigners from Germany seems like an overstatement to me.

Anyway, this influx, real or not, does not necessarily prevent Pepe from doing something stupid. He is a commie after all. And even then, this is of little relevancy to my original question - What do people see in PDE. So far, I understand that Uruguay in general is a safe haven for Argentine money. PDE in particular - I still don't get it. It's ... as described in my first post.

 

[gouchobob]

All in all, I would say that Uruguay's cost of living is about a third higher than in Buenos Aires.

According to the Mercer COL data Montevideo ranks 131 and B.A. at 112. People who collect and analyze the data for a living say B.A. is more expensive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_cities_for_expatriate_employees

As for crime I found the following:

Assualts

Argentina 185,973/40,900(POP) = 4.54 per thousand persons
Uruguay 10,544/3,494(POP)=3.05 per thousand persons

Argentina is close to 50% higher in assualts

Murder

Argentina 3453/40,900=.084 per thousand persons
Uruguay 217/3,494=.062 per thousand persons

Argentina is close to a third higher in murders

Robberies

Argentina 469,899/40,900=11.6 per thousand persons
Uruguay 10,282/3453= 2.9 per thousand persons

Argentina is nearly 4 times higher in robberies.

The data is in the following link. I divided the population of each country into the number of crimes to show a rate per 1000 persons. People can look at the stats and make their own conclusion about which country has more violent crime.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur-crime-murders