Real Estate Prices In Usd And Ars - Help

[Girino]

I have been browsing the usual real estate website for Buenos Aires, and I noticed that several of them allow to express the price in ARS or in USD.

1) Sometimes prices in USD and ARS are scrambled even when I choose to display the results by price. What is the criteria to convert the amounts? The official rate? The blue rate?

2) If the price of a house is stated in USD, should I expect to be asked the equivalent in pesos at the official rate when sealing the deal or does it mean I should pay in USD or that they expect USD the equivalent in ARS, but according to the blue rate?

 

[Ceviche]

i have the same confusion.

 

[nlaruccia]

The blue dollar rate.

 

[Crema Americana]

My experience with house buying here (through my brother-in-law)... generally people want cash in USD. Since dollars are so difficult to come by these days, people are probably more open to the blue rate in pesos. But before, signing papers with a suitcase full of USD cash was not uncommon.

 

[Girino]

What I can't understand is how they can ask so much for houses in Argentina like if it was some fancy place in France.
I don't think there are many people making loads of money, or that there is this huge ROI if you buy a house as an investment here.

In comparison, houses in Florida are so much cheaper!

 

[Ceviche]

In comparison, houses in Florida are so much cheaper!

Its not uncommon to have property more expensive in 2nd and 3rd world countries than a 1st world country.

 

[sergio]

Argentina has an underdeveloped economy. Virtually no mortgage money. Even in Europe home ownership is much lower than in the US. In Argentina people inherit property which they can sell to buy other homes. Hard or impossible to save to buy a home with no serious mortgage money. Does anyone know what the homeownership percentage is? Probably a small part of the population.

 

[citygirl]

Very often in buying there will be an official (minimal) price in pesos to be paid here and the rest is paid in dollars outside ideally or at least off the books.

Real estate prices are high because it is one of the only solid investment opportunities.

 

[Girino]

Real estate prices are high because it is one of the only solid investment opportunities.

Can you please elaborate? I would agree in a steady economy, but not in Argentina with its up and down. If you have to sell during a "down" period, you might get way less than you paid. If you have many houses and are a broker, I can understand, but the average John & Jane Doe...

 

[thorsten]

If you earn more money than you normally spend, real estate is one of the few legal options you have to protect your money from getting eaten by the inflation. Even if you buy the place for 100,000 US$ and sell it for 90,000 US$ after 5 years, it would be a win for you compared to sitting on a bunch of pesos which will lose the majority of its buying power.