Most of the rental contracts for permanent housing are agreed in pesos, with update by IPCwhile publications in dollars, which reached levels close to 70% in 2023, are now mainly destined for temporary rental.
Currently, rents are agreed in pesos and the indexation chosen is by CPI on a quarterly basis, according to sector surveys.
According to information from the Universidad de San Andrés in conjunction with Mercado Libre, the percentage of apartments for rent published in dollars stood at 31.6% in November 2024, while the maximum reached was 65.7% in September 2023.
In GBA Northern Zone, the current dollarization is 43.2%, with a maximum of 68.8% recorded in September 2023; in GBA Western Zone, current dollarization is significantly lower, at 3.46%; and in GBA South Zone, the current percentage is 10.9%.
Paula Margaretic, a researcher at the University of San Andrés, told Agencia Noticias Argentinas that “the proportion of properties in 2018 dollars was recording a sustained increase to the peak in the months prior to the repeal of the Rental Law.”
“Then, with the repeal of the law at the end of last year, the proportion fell,” he added.
He analyzed that “one interpretation of this is that the Rental Law, since it generated many nominal rigidities in the market, when that law is repealed, people perhaps have less incentive to put their rents in dollars.”
“On the other hand, in a context of inflation that is falling, also makes people have less incentive to price in dollars as a way of protecting themselves against purchasing losses due to inflation,” he stated.
Likewise, from the Scalabrini Ortiz Study Center (CESO) they recorded that in November 2024 in CABA the rental offer in dollars was 28%, while it reached the maximum point of 68% of the publications in dollars in September 2023.
In 2023, CESO analyzed that What motivated the increase in offers expressed in dollars at that time was due to the inflationary acceleration that added “uncertainty when having to set values” and generated a rapid liquefaction of entry prices.
Marta Liotto, former president of the Real Estate College of the City of Buenos Aires, told NA that “we can count the neighborhoods that were affected by tourism on the fingers of one hand, they are San Telmo, Palermo, Barrio Norte, a little bit of Recoleta and the center”.
“The rest of the neighborhoods, the rest of the communes, all 100% are focused on housing rental, two-year contract, adjusted for inflation,” he explained.
He said that in terms of housing “we are returning to the historical scenario that the City of Buenos Aires had” while tourism “was a momentary boom.”
“This modification – he analyzed – is due to the fact that the tourist offer in the City of Buenos Aires has decreased, today the owners see with better eyes the liberation of the old Rental Law, which was so disastrous for the sector and for the parties” .
He argued that “the repeal of that law made owners enthusiastic again about putting their assets and their valuable refuge for rent.”
“The issue of repealing the law was very encouraging; we have been in this scenario for almost a year now and little by little it was settling in,” he added.
Liotto highlighted that since the repeal, the supply of properties improved: “Today we can say that all the real estate agencies have around 7 to 10 properties to offer; the tenant today can search, can choose according to conditions, characteristics, proximity, budget and comfort.
This “did not exist before because many properties had turned to tourism and had taken them out of the housing supply,” he concluded.
Source: Ambito
