In real estate, February is usually a month of seasonally few sales.
However, this year,
the movement quite surprised businessmen
in the sector: there were
27.3% more operations than in February 2023
.
And 17% more compared to the previous month, according to the deeds recorded by the College of Notaries of the Federal Capital.
In the Province
of Buenos Aires
, an upward curve was also seen, although less pronounced: the increase was 8% year-on-year, although with a better performance compared to January.
The February data brings some
relief to the market
, after having started the year on the decline and given the uncertainty of how the real estate market may develop during 2024 in a recessionary context and lack of credit.
In any case, and although
the level of operations is half of those carried out in February 2018
(4,000 monthly deeds), the particular movement this February encourages good expectations among real estate companies.
The 27.3% increase compared to the level of a year before involved 2,213 registrations, while the total amount of transactions carried out rose 447.5%, that is, above inflation, with $169,632 million.
Compared to January 2024, the acts increased by 17.6%, since in the month of January 1,882 deeds were signed, the institution detailed in a statement.
According to the president of the Buenos Aires School, Jorge De Bártolo, it was
"the best February in the last six years, even pre-pandemic.
It is a slight upward curve, a kind of step by step that clearly marks that
the savings of families who are most importantly, the roof," he said
.
"Seasonally, the first two months of the year are the ones with the least activity; but this February had significant activity. Likewise, we are
attentive to macroeconomic factors,
which would be a much-needed incentive for the sector: when there was credit, we had twice as much operations,” said Di Bártolo.
Regarding the evolution of prices, although there are statistics in the sector that show slight increases, the writings
still show a fall in dollars
.
The average amount of the acts was $76,652,849, which represents
US$87,065
according to the average official exchange rate: it grew 330% in one year in pesos, and
in US currency it fell 2.9%.
According to Francisco Altgelt, president of the real estate company that bears his name: "a trend-setting factor is that
the haggling percentage decreased
, which indicates that
the publication prices (which did not decrease) are already close to the closing prices"
, he commented.
Another fact that Buenos Aires statistics show is the number of operations carried out through mortgages.
In a context of practically zero financing for this type of property, in February, there were
79 deeds formalized with a mortgage.
Therefore, the increase in that sense is 11.3% compared to the same month last year.
Regarding the rebound in the number of operations in February, Altgelt says that "month after month" there is an improvement in the number of writings.
"The fact that this phenomenon is repeated every month
is clearly a trend
and it is clear that the market is active. Even though
the supply has decreased
, there is also an improvement in the number of inquiries about the properties, which indicates that
The demand is active
," he says.
Writings in the Province of Buenos Aires
In the province of Buenos Aires the number of operations was 4,593.
This number, according to the statistics compiled monthly by the Buenos Aires College of Notaries,
represented an interannual increase of 8% compared to the 4,253 operations registered in February 2023.
In turn, in the inter-monthly comparison, the figure is 34% higher than the January values, since in that month 3,422 deeds had been recorded.
Regarding mortgages, February totaled 243, which represents an increase of 34% compared to the previous month (182) and a year-on-year drop of 58% (575 in February 2023).
“It is clear that observing growth numbers is always something to highlight and that this trend reflects variations that we hope can be consolidated in the future.
However,
we must be cautious because the context and the fluctuating background of previous months do not yet allow us to speak of a market recovery,"
analyzed the president of the College of Notaries of the Province of Buenos Aires, Diego Leandro Molina.
According to his vision, “in order for us to see a concrete and sustained reactivation,
an improvement is needed in various variables, always taking into account that the key factor will be access to mortgage credit,
which allows greater dynamism in the activity, he added.
NE