Argentines are nowadays the leaders in the real estate market. They exceeded Brazilian investors which used to be the most active group from Latin America. For example at Opera Tower 50% of the recent buyers were Argentines.

Is it a signal that the Argentineans are desperate to park their money somewhere else than in their own country?

That’s maybe it because Argentina is suffering from inflation and currency depreciation meaning that there are not so many profitable investments left to do there. That’s why investors want to save their money in places like Miami or New York, which are said to be the two “safe havens” of the United States. Moreover buying a condo in these two cities is not only a good long term investment but also a source of extra income through rentals.

These massive investments would have been perfect for our business if there wasn’t a black cloud in the sky.

The Argentines authorities are worried about the capital invested overseas which doubled in one year.

Thus they are making the abroad investment much more difficult. They decided to control the capital outflow; especially if its dollar currency. Basically the government is trying to limit the access to dollars by requiring investors to submit a request for conversion. It is also increasing taxes on overseas purchases and is even using trained dogs in the airports to look for dollars.

So let’s hope that the Argentinean government is going to rethink its policy and find other ways to protect its currency. As Madonna’s song could say “don’t cry for Miami Argentina”.