OfertaBA: Puerto Madero Real Estate Prices Begin Pullback

After much speculation, many Puerto Madero units are now selling for 30% below the 2009/10 peak.

A few months back InvestBA shared the Top 5 myths about Puerto Madero, and now Cronista adds a sobering sixth: real estate prices will continue rising indefinitely. Not only have residential prices in BA’s tony waterfront barrio hit the top, they’ve already dropped about 30% from the peak when new units were fetching US$464/SF ($5,000/m2) on average.

While many brokers continue to list properties in that price range or higher, Cronista says closing prices typically land somewhere in the US$275/SF to US$325/SF price range at closing. Nuria Rebón explains the dilemma for those who bought at the Puerto peak: “Those who purchased properties for around US$420/SF to $470/SF don’t want to walk away with losses, but generally speaking, they’re not finding buyers who want to pay that much.

For that reason, many recent buyers are opting to rent their Puerto Madero units, but not at very attractive rental rates, while they wait to sell at a higher price.” And while following-the-investor-herd-down-to-the-docks is not panning out for recent buyers in Puerto Madero, buyers in more traditional, less high-rise saturated neighborhoods like Palermo, Recoleta and Belgrano R are faring much better, according to BA broker Diego Cazes. “In those neighborhoods, there are buyers for high-end properties in the US$450/SF to US$500/SF range.” (Full Story in Spanish)

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