Buenos Aires and Montevideo quality of living index from Mercer

No Surprises: Buenos Aires and Montevideo were the highest ranked cities in South America.

While global mergers and acquisitions are based largely on perceived synergies and potential bottom line impact, a very human-oriented discussion typically emerges once the deal is done. Who do we send from the Home Office to manage the new foreign subsidiary? How is the quality of life there vis-a -vis the U.S.? And, of course, what is an appropriate compensation package for our soon-to-be expats?

Fortunately Mercer, a global leader in HR consulting, has the answers in their just-released 2010 Quality of Living Survey. Unlike the International Living index which focuses on variables important to retirees, the Mercer survey is designed to help multinationals fairly compensate their employees working abroad, and New York with a score of 100 is used as the base city.

The La Nacion headline came as no surprise to InvestBA readers: Buenos Aires, the best city to live in South America. In fact, out of 221 cities, Buenos Aires and our other local favorite,  Montevideo, were ranked back-to-back at #78 and #79, the two highest ranking metros in South America, followed by Santiago (#90), Brasilia (#104), Rio (#116), and Sao Paulo (#117).

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

InvestBA Privada

Doug Casey picks Argentina, Uruguay and Chile as the places to be. We've got the first two covered in Privada.

International Speculator sits down with global investor Doug Casey for a candid assessment of the global real estate market status quo and prospects for future growth and appreciation. The U.S. is definitely not high on Casey’s list, where he predicts the average American’s standard of living “will drop significantly” in the coming years…if it hasn’t already.

And while he has personally had good timing with investments in Spain and Hong Kong, he’s not very bullish on Europe, Central Asia, Africa or the Middle East for reasons ranging from overvaluation to “voracious” governments to shifting demographics.

So what options does that leave a real estate investing globetrotter in today’s environment? “South America,” says Casey, “I think it’s going to have its day in the sun. I think Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay are the places to be in South America. Brazil has gotten too expensive. Bolivia and Paraguay are too screwed up.

I like the Southern Cone countries, and among them, for reasons we have discussed at length in the International Speculator, I think Argentina offers the best speculative opportunities. And Casey finishes the interview with a more targeted plug for Argentina and Uruguay based on his own observations: “I see a lot of European immigration headed to Argentina. Europeans that come to Argentina, or Uruguay, for that matter, are going to realize that real estate costs a tenth of what it does in Europe. They will realize that this is the place to be for real estate, and lifestyle in general.”

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

 

Bariloche

Mendoza

Uruguay

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