Brokers, developers and investors are all making predictions for 2011 at this year's SMI Expo.

With SMI, the country’s most important real estate Expo underway this week at La Rural, developers and investors are trying to make sense of the post-Nestor climate and predict the state of the market in 2011. iProfesional surveyed SMI attendees and discovered a general sense of optimism considering a weakening dollar, rising consumption and high inflation cocktail tilting the scales in favor of bricks and mortar.

Another key variable is the current commodity export boom which has led many Argentine farmers to plow their new-found soydollars (locally sojadolares) into residential and commercial real estate in major cities like BA, Rosario and Cordoba, a trend we touched on back in August (Interior Motives) and confirmed during our October Expo in Rosario.

Focusing locally on Buenos Aires, iProfesional offers a breakdown of average price per square foot for new and used properties. The Top Five BA barrios for used 2 and 3 room apartments based on price per SF are Recoleta ($208), Barrio Norte ($182), Belgrano R ($180), Palermo ($175) and Nunez ($157), while the most affordable surveyed were San Telmo ($134), Villa Crespo ($131), and Parque Patricios ($105).

General consensus at SMI is there are too many small units on the market which is why developers are beginning to announce projects with larger 3 and 4-room floor plans. Considering the scarcity of available land in areas like Palermo, new developments in 2011 are more likely to emerge in barrios like Colegiales, Villa Crespo, Almagro, Chacarita, as well as Barracas and Parque Patricios which are benefiting from the new Centro Metropolitano de Diseno and BA Tech District, respectively. (Full Story in Spanish)

For more information about Buenos Aires real estate trends, visit our archives and download the latest issue of InvestBA Privada.