Argentina's ready to tango
Buenos Aires offers some of the best property bargains in the world. And, says Mangal Kapoor, the British are welcome Mention Buenos Aires, and most people in Britain still think of rioters protesting about the Falklands war. But in Argentina,
all that is now a distant memory. The county’s capital has reclaimed its title as South America’s most cosmopolitan city
and is once again attracting visitors from around the world. What’s more, the city’s English and Anglo-Argentine
communities are thriving. A 15-hour flight from London, Buenos Aires is a beguiling city of broad avenues and well-maintained
parks, where the quality of life is good and the cost of living is low. Summer runs from late November to
February, with temperatures reaching average highs of 24C-29C.
And there’s more good news: property is incredibly cheap compared with capital cities of similar
sophistication elsewhere in the world. Although prices have recovered substantially from the lows of
the economic crisis of June-July 2002, when they fell by up to 50%, it is still possible to buy a flat in
downtown Buenos Aires at a fraction of the cost in London.
Prospective buyers, though, should move fast. Official figures from the country’s College of Notaries
show that property prices in Buenos Aires rose by 37% in the year to October 2006.
The hottest property spot in the city is Puerto Madero, the former docks east of the central Plaza de
Mayo. Giant cranes still loom on the opposite bank of the River Plate, but in Puerto Madero, old redbrick
warehouses have been turned into smart shops and stylish restaurants, and a new apartment
building designed by Foster and Partners, El Aleph, is due for completion in June 2009, with off-plan
flats, starting at £150,000, available through Aylesford International estate agency. |
Mendoza 
Why go to the Napa Valley when you can fly to Mendoza, in western Argentina, drink more exotic and affordable wines, and go horseback riding across the magnificent Andes Mountains with sexy Latin meat eaters?