Buenos Aires Housing Market Still Weak

The number of homes sold in the City of Buenos Aires in March tanked almost 22% compared with the same month a year ago, the public notaries association, or “Colegio de Escribanos,” said Wednesday.

The silver lining for the housing market, if there was one in March, was that sales actually soared 43% compared with the previous month. That sounds pretty impressive. But it’s not really as encouraging as it seems because March sales always jump spectacularly from February, a spokesman for the notaries association said when asked about the data.

Sales are typically low in January and February partly because many buyers are on vacation or taking time off from their search for a new house or apartment.

Still, things could have been worse.

All told, some 3,609 homes were sold in March, compared with 4,622 a year ago and with 2,519 homes in February.

The total value of of the homes sold was 1.06 billion pesos (US $287 million), up from 946 million pesos a year ago. That puts the value of the average home s0ld in March at 295,154 pesos (US $79,556).

Of course, prices vary greatly from neighborhood to neighborhood, as a reader recently noted.

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