Housing
How a Plan to Stabilize Rents Sent Prices Skyrocketing
Buenos Aires landlords have raised the rent on apartments more than 60% ahead of a new law that gives the government control over price increases.
A sign indicating a property for rent hangs outside a building in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires.
Photographer: Erica Canepa/BloombergFrom San Francisco to London to Hong Kong, demand has caved for rental apartments during the pandemic, bringing prices down, too.
But in one global metropolis, rents are surging like never before. Tenants in the city of Buenos Aires are seeing apartment prices soar 67% from a year ago to an average of about 35,000 pesos a month ($377). Rent is now rising twice as fast as paychecks, and well ahead of other prices in one of the largest cities in Latin America.