Palermo view from a US$2.5 million penthouse residence on Avenida Libertador in Buenos Aires.

With looming tax hikes, rising real unemployment and falling property values at home, many foreign buyers continue to look to our corner of the Southern Cone for unique real estate properties ranging from condominiums to single-family homes and vineyards to estancias, writes Annabella Quiroga in today’s iEco.

And while there is always an influx of foreign travelers and potential buyers to Buenos Aires, Argentina and Uruguay, high-end brokers have the added challenge of marketing über-lujoso listings that may only be within the reach of a select few. On the sell side of the equation, the listing process is made even more challenging when local sellers refuse to publish their asking price. For example, Quiroga says one of Sotheby’s “most spectacular” listings is a 40,000 square foot, 9-bedroom French mansion called the Club de Campo Abril, but the confidentiality agreement signed between broker and seller keeps the listing price under wraps until qualified buyers can be identified.

The divide between local seller and foreign buyer can also be a product of local sellers believing they can pad their prices for unsuspecting foreign buyers. Think again, says Quiroga, as greater transparency and online access to information helps foreign buyers stay informed with the status quo in Argentina both in terms of real estate prices and the broader macroeconomic situation. (Full story in Spanish)

For more information about real estate opportunities in Argentina and Uruguay, download IncomeBA and the new issue of InvestBA Privada.