Uruguay Coastal Properties

It’s been awhile since we’ve talked about the Pan Azucar development. As you may know, Sugar Loaf Ocean Club and Spa is the only luxury development inside the city limits of Piriapolis. In addition to second homes, the project will provide upscale vacation rental inventory as well as rental property for short and medium term needs.

Apparently, things have been going pretty well. In the last six months 41 lots have been sold, surpassing its projected lot sales for the year by 48%.

Due to the brisk sales, Sugar Loaf is buying 175 acres of land adjacent to Sugar Loaf, to develop as additional phases in the project. The additional property will more than triple the size of the project, increase the total acreage from 75 to 250 acres, and expand the number of lots from 114 to 380.

There are still only eight houses under construction or complete; it will be interesting to learn what’s up with all these lot purchases.

There’s also an opportunity for equity investors in this new phase. If interested, let us know and we’ll connect you with the developer.

In addition to a price reduction of over $500,000 on this luxury real estate, there’s also a currency play if you have just about anything but dollars.

The luxury property is off about 20% from last year at this time based on the dollar’s fall. This view estate was a excellent value one year ago, today it’s in the bargain bin on a currency adjusted basis.

Do yourself a favor and check this estate out.

When it comes to luxury real estate in Uruguay, we’ll spare you the gushing superlatives. Let’s just say this luxury property has it all. There are two homes on the 17.5 hectare site. The main house has over 500 square meters and a guest or attendant home of about 100 square meters.

The owner needs to move back to Europe and the price has been reduced to 1.9M from 2.4 million.

Do your self two favors. First, click this link: Luxury Estate. And then go visit the property…..without question you will see the best views in Uruguay and a residence second to none in this country.

Here’s a follow up for investment property and real estate in Piriapolis. With an 11% gross return, this is a good candidate for your consideration.

This flat exceeds the return on investment criteria requested by several people. More info will be coming about this and other properties in town. Please hit the link below.

Prime View Investment Property

International interest in investment property and real estate in Uruguay and Piriapolis is nothing new. However, this year is unusual in the specific requests for investments with certain yields.

In general, people are seeking net returns in the 7% range or around 9% of annual gross rents compared to total price/costs. Are these yields possible? Yes.

Based on a few years of our operating history, we feel these are very reasonable expectations and you might do better.

In the next few weeks we’ll show you properties that meet or exceed these returns.

Stay Tuned!

This is going to be brief, as my day job is keeping tied up in knots for the next few weeks. However, here’s a quick update to the last article about property prices in Uruguay.

While it appears to me that from top to bottom, prices are mostly flat, I guessed Luxury real estate and property, particularly in Punta del Este is doing pretty well. The guess may have been accurate.

I’ve had conversations with property owners in the luxury end, lets say over $500,000, and they report sales and prices have indeed moved North. Realtors, and others with vested interest in the answer have said the same thing…….but who knows considering the source?

Why? Know one knows for sure, but the odds on bet is it’s mostly money trying to escape Argentina.

Five months ago, I did an article about real estate prices and where they might go. I feel like it’s a good time to revisit the subject. First, a few words about the global economic backdrop.

Justin Lin, Chief Economist at the World Bank recently warned that a global surge in excess capacity could lead to a worldwide “deflationary downward spiral.” Ask the Japanese about deflation, and their lost decade. The economy was in the sewer for over ten years, millions lost their jobs, banks collapsed, stock prices fell by 75% and real estate tanked. (Sound familiar?) The economy has yet to recover. Speaking of which, the Bank of Japan is forecasting two years of declining prices.

Prices are also falling in the remaining economic engines, India and China. For instance, the producer price index is down about 5.9% during the last year according to the China National Bureau of Statistics. Prices in Europe are on track to fall about 1.5% this year.  And of course this bleak backdrop is crowned by the collapse in US demand for imported goods.

So here’s a ten second history lesson…..the Great Depression of the 30s was a deflationary bust. The virus started with the breakdown of the financial markets in 1929/1930. The epidemic didn’t affect the average person until the 1931/1932 time frame. By 1932, 25% unemployment was common in the industrialized world as well as negative growth. This ugly picture didn’t change until the 40s. Needless to say, all asset classes got hammered.

So here we set in mid 2009. Western economies have been getting the crap kicked out of them for nearly two years, with the same MO as the Japanese debacle. What effect has this had on prices in Uruguay? The long and the short of it is not much. The average from top to bottom is mostly flat. The luxury property market might even be moving up a bit; the mid market is clearly flat or down a few pesos. Why?

My feeling is prices are flat because this is a cash market; there’s little or no debt on real estate. I know people that would like to sell and can’t, but they aren’t forced too since there’s no payment, often no insurance and taxes can be quite low. In the long run, if global deflation continues to build, there will be zero to nil demand from the outside world for property in tiny Uruguay. This will cause pricing pressure. How much? Your guess is as good as mine.

The real threat is from within and nearby. Uruguay, and its primary partner in the real estate dance, Argentina, are both due for a bust. Every eight to ten years is the pattern.

If the bust happens, not good. Prices could move down sharply. If Southern South America avoids the pain the rest of the planet is experiencing, the flat line in prices could continue for some time.

Are flat prices a bad thing? Ask the average Brit, Spaniard or American.

This is an important consideration I left out of the last week’s article.

This post talked about the brisk lot sales at Sugar Loaf Ocean Club and Spa. I wondered when I first talked to David James about the lot sales, “Can people build whatever they want?”

I’m very happy to report the answer is NO. They are free to do as they please inside the house, but the design has to be the developers. In my opinion, this is a very good thing; the luxury designs are attractive and very Local in appearance as well as the feel. I feel this requirement assures the upscale status of the project will be maintained.

I’ve seen some very upscale hoods here where people have purchased expensive lots and put trash in……go figure.

Sugar Loaf Ocean Club and Spa, Piriapolis’ luxury home development, recently released and sold out all building lots in Phase II, Armonia. This was the first time the option to buy lots without a home has been offered. Previously, the only alternative was to buy a home package which included the plot, a home design and construction.

It appears all the lots were sold in a few weeks. Based on the brisk activity, the developer decided to release another section of lots called Tranquilidad.  Tranquilidad is at higher level on the hill and the lots have even better panoramic ocean views than the ones offered at Armonia. This section of lots will be released to the public on August 1st. These lots are priced at US$59,900. Currently there is owner financing available but is due to expire on August 1st.

As far as the current status of construction on Pan Azucar, there are seven luxury homes due to be complete and delivered in December. Three more houses will start in August.

If you’re coming to town, be sure to stop by. The views range from excellent to out of this world and the designs are tasteful with distinct local, Uruguayan influence.

Would you pay $7.3 million for a penthouse in Uruguay? Well, a Swiss buyer has done just that. The flat is in Acqua, a Rafael Viñoly designed beachfront project in Punta del Este. From what I hear, this is a record setting price for an apartment. This may answer a few question about the luxury property market.

The 34 unit luxury project Acqua is the first designed by Mr. Viñoly in his home country. He is the architect behind Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and the Tokyo International Forum. We’ve watched this building take shape for years. We often wondered if the tiered, glass-walled, pools everywhere structure was a condo or an office building. The project is in its final stages of construction and supposedly about 50 percent of the units are sold. Prices start at $980,000; most of the buyers are European.

The recently sold four-bedroom penthouse covers 18,500 square feet (1,719 square meters), with an 800-square-foot (74 square meter) master suite and ocean views on three sides. It also includes a private swimming pool, home theater, wine cellar and servant quarters.

There are no details about the Swiss buyer other than the penthouse was purchased as a second home.

Punta del Este is a high-end resort city. It’s often referred to as the Riviera of Uruguay and is popular with jet setters from Argentina, Brazil and Europe.

Here’s the original article from Raising the Roof.