Many of the most expensive neighborhoods in Latin America saw prices per square meter rise in 2021, representing a measure of recovery from dented real estate prices seen in 2020 due to the global pandemic.
According to a study by Properati – a real estate platform active in Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay – of the 12 “exclusive” neighborhoods that appeared on both the 2020 and 2021 lists of most expensive neighborhoods in Latin America, eight saw prices rise last year.
Only Ipanema (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), El Prado (Barranquilla, Colombia), La Carolina (Quito, Ecuador), and Samborondon (Guayaquil, Ecuador) witnessed declines in prices per square meter between 2020 and 2021, with Samborondon the only neighborhood to register a decline of more than 5%.
The greatest increases, meanwhile, were seen in Pance (Cali, Colombia) and Vitacura (Santiago de Chile), which saw prices rise 24% and 20% respectively.
Carrasco (Montevideo, Uruguay) and Chico (Bogota, Colombia), each saw prices rise by more than 10%, as did Bosques de Las Lomas (Mexico City), although it did not appear on the 2020 list. Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires remained the region’s most expensive neighborhood by a signifiant margin in both 2020 and 2021.
SEE ALSO: Learn How To Buy Property in Santiago de Chile
The study of most expensive neighborhoods in Latin America includes a total of 16 “exclusive” neighborhoods and separately lists the 16 most expensive “middle class” neighborhoods. In each case, only 12 neighborhoods appear on both the 2020 and 2021 lists, with price fluctuations seeing some drop out and others included.
For example, while Barranco in Peru’s capital Lima appears on the 2020 list of exclusive neighborhoods, the following year the nearby neighborhood of San Isidro appears instead, because prices there had risen above those of Barranco.
According to the study’s authors, it is based on an analysis of 35,000 properties in different cities around the region, with those gathered in countries where Properati does not do business – Brazil, Chile, and Mexico – obtained from external sources but verified internally.
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Most expensive neighborhoods in Latin America: middle class areas fare worse
While the majority of exclusive neighborhoods saw prices rise, the latest study paints a different picture for middle class neighborhoods, with half of those on the 2021 list
registering year-over-year declines, including seven of the 12 neighborhoods that also appeared on the 2020 list.
The most significant declines were seen in Argentina, where the neighborhoods of Caballito (Buenos Aires) and General Artigas (Cordoba) saw prices fall 11%, while El Salado (Cuenca, Ecuador) and Jesús María (Lima, Peru) saw 7% declines.
The most significant increase among middle class neighborhoods was seen in Ñuñoa (Santiago de Chile), where prices increased 28% between 2020 and 2021. La Flora (Cali, Colombia) and San Jeronimo Lidice (Mexico City), meanwhile, both saw prices rise by 24%.
It is worth noting that, while eight of the 16 middle class zones included in this study of the most expensive neighborhoods in Latin America witnessed declines in prices between 2020 and 2021, in five of them the decline did not exceed 5%, including three where prices only dropped 1%.
Also, in the 2020 study, a total of 11 out of the 16 neighborhoods listed saw declines in the previous year, with no neighborhood registering an increase. So, while middle class neighborhoods fared less well than their exclusive counterparts, the results still demonstrate an improving real estate market.
What is more, based on the results for both exclusive and middle class neighborhoods, some cities stand out for the strong growth in their real estate markets.
Those include Santiago de Chile, Mexico City, Uruguay’s capital Montevideo, and the Colombian cities of Bogota and Cali, which all witnessed double digit percentage increases in real estate prices for both types of neighborhoods.
Biz Latin Hub can assist you buying property in Latin America
At Biz Latin Hub, we assist corporations and investors doing business in Latin America and the Caribbean, with offices staffed by local teams of professionals in 15 countries as well as Puerto Rico.
We provide integrated packages of market entry and back office services tailored to individual needs, and our portfolio includes accounting & taxation, company formation, corporate legal services, hiring & PEO, and visa processing.
We also assist with property purchases, so if you are interested in investing in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Latin America, and we have an office in that city, we can assist you. We can also help you apply for residency through real estate investment in markets where that is allowed.
Contact us today to find out more about how we can help you.
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