Here’s a piece of a recent NY article about the real estate market in Rio:
“Let me give you an idea of what is happening here,” says Gisela Schenker Wajnberg, a lawyer and real estate agent based for decades in Ipanema. “We had an apartment sell two years ago for R$2.7 million. It just went to a new buyer for R$7 million,” or US$3.76 million. The property is not especially remarkable, either in quality or in price increase. Most prices in Ipanema and in Leblon … have doubled or even tripled since 2009. They now average more than R$15,000 per square meter, or US$780 per square foot. Those are eye-popping increases for many markets…
Eye-popping, indeed…
Source: NYT
Cariocas are crazy. Zona Sul is such a drag… Appartments are old and not well divided! This is very typical of what I see everyday: those Cariocas have raised the bar on the insecure "nouveau-riche" syndrome to staggering heights!
It's a question of lack of alternatives. Barra has not replaced the way of life of Ipanema and Leblon, because of distances, closed condoms and traffic. And Rio is also becoming the Latin American San Francisco, with a lot gay investment. Im out of Rio already for 25 years now, it's not anymore what it used to be, but it still has some magic. The metro having arrived to Ipanema, brought crowds and really one end of Ipanema has become what many feared. But the property boom in Brazil is all over, and Ipanema and Leblon could not be diferent.
Rio today is one of the most overrated and most overvalued cities IN THE WORLD…well when i say Rio i mean zona sul (south part) and very few parts of the zona oeste…both represent less than 10% of the total city size…the other 90% of Rio are just like Paraguay. IPANEMA IN 2012 its similar from what is was in 2002…10 years ago, not much different, same problems same qualitites, today i dont find any advantages in living in RIO …why should you pay more for less? South Portugal, South Spain, Southern california are just examples with great tourist infraestructures, exelent quality, low prices, wich compared to the best in Rio (ipanema leblon copacabana etc) make this areas look like normal places to live but with a poluted beach and skyrocketing prices. Conclusion: Rio is bad value for money if your intentions are to live there.
If that is not delusional..I do not know what delusion is.
Just wait when the credit buble pops. It is just a question of time.It happened everywhere and it will be no different in Brazil.