Uruguay Coastal Properties

I’m not sure what this means, if anything, for the property market here on the Uruguay Coast but it makes me wonder.

In case you don’t know, there is lots of Spanish investment here. The Iberians have purchased vast tracks of land in Rocha in the last 5 years, and some of the swank high-end developments on the Maldonado Coast are by Spanish companies. In an all out crisis like the one in Spain, two forces are in play, the players that are liquid will look for a new home (such as Uruguay.) The highly leveraged, will cease to be players in international markets.

Which of these two currents will push the market here?

Here’s a link to from The Independent Europe.

Stay Tuned!

Steve Bowman

Kevin Brass, columnist for the International Herald Tribune has asked me to do an interview for Raising the Roof, an international real estate blog in his publication.

I’m pleased to receive the kind invitation and look for to collaboration with Kevin on future projects.

Will let you know when the article is posted.

Stay Tuned!

Steve Bowman

International real estate investment brings its own set of headaches and challenges, believe me. But it also offers a unique opportunity: diversification.

I’ve had calls from people all over North America in the last few weeks, from the Northern Territories in Canada, Georgia and Hawaii all saying the same thing. They want to have assets out of their homeland, the U.S. in particular. Diversification is always a good idea. The primary question they have is similar: Is Uruguay a safe choice?

Well, that’s a good question. To me, it sure appears so. The begs the question, will property here be a good investment? No one knows for sure. My take is this. Your property rights are protected by the Constitution. The political risks are nil. Uruguay has not had a huge run-up in prices…..Ergo! No bubble in sight. Prices are up substantially in the last few years, but this is a recovery from a horrid economic crisis in 2002. The economy here is detached from North America which is a good thing at this moment. So the diversification play is sound on the above criteria.

What other risks are there? The only dark cloud on the horizon is the Dollar and property here is priced in US dollars. Even this is, or will be, a plus for strong currency buyers.

Final word. When investing, there are always risks and the outcome is never clear.

Stay Tuned!

Steve Bowman

If you’re like me, you spend a fair amount of time surveying international property markets as well as worldwide business and economic conditions. Here’s a site I suggest you check out: Raising the Roof. This is the real estate Blog section of the International Herald Tribune.

What’s I like about this English language publication is it’s reasonably EU centric and to a leaser extent, covers Latin America and the rest of the world. The New York Times produces the Tribune, so it’s probably a bit heavy on US news. However, the editing work is done in Paris and Hong Kong; the print edition comes out of Paris.

The Tribune has other blog sections, but Raising The Roof is hard to beat for International real estate news and trends.

Steve Bowman

In a recent article, The Corridor, I talked about the large tracts of undeveloped ocean front land outside of Punta del Este and the ultimate build out of these areas. Well……the development is underway. And the development has nothing to do with the La Punta area.

The area in question is Punta Negra. (The Corridor article offers graphic and satellite links to find Punta Negra.) The development that’s now under way will include a five star hotel and over 200 home sites. The homes are projected to be in the $1 million plus range. As you can see, Black Point is near Piriapolis, but is really in a no man’s land between Punta del Este and Pira.

Our call from over a year ago on Coastal Uruguay, that these expansive tracts outside of Punta del Este would develop in the near future is coming to pass. What we didn’t foresee is that much of the development would be on the Luxury end of the market.

With the Sugar Loaf and the Punta Negra projects, the high-end/luxury part of the market is starting to take off.

Stay Tuned!

Steve Bowman

Coastal Uruguay had a recent article about appreciation in residential property prices that may be useful.

I won’t rehash the ground already plowed. However, the jest of the article is prices in 2007 moved up a little or a lot depending on the type of product in question. Here’s a link to the article: Housing Prices 2008. There are some specific examples comparing properties in late 2006 to similar residences in December 2007.

Several people have asked how I feel about prices for 2008. Frankly, no one know. But if I were forced to bet, I would go with flat/slightly lower prices for strong currency buyers and modestly higher prices for those with dollars. As you can see, my call is based on how the dollar preforms.

Stay Tuned!

Steve Bowman

As we mentioned last week, we’ve just entered in to an exclusive international marketing agreement for an Estate in town. As far as luxury real estate goes, this one is a bargain by international and Uruguayan standards as well.

There are very few view properties with this much land, 43 hectares. And if you find one with half as much land, it will be in the Punta del Este or Puta Ballena area. The price will be $10m or more. As far as luxury estates go, this one is a bargain at $2.26m.

Here’s the link for the View Estate.

Uruguay Coastal Properties has entered into an agreement to market the largest view estate in the Piriapolis area. Details will follow soon; let’s just say for now this luxury property has it all. The main house has over 500 square meters and a guest or attendant house of about 100 square meters.

The buildings are set on 17.5 hectares (43 acres) with a 180 degree Atlantic view and an unobstructed vista of Sierra de las Animas (Mountain of the Spirits) where the tallest point in Uruguay is located.

The price of the property is $2,260,000 (includes commissions.)

Agents protected. Please contact us for details.

If you’re a regular reader of Coast Uruguay, please excuse me. You’ve probably heard this sermon. However, many people have recently discovered this site and are not familiar with our sister publication. Here’s our take on the area we feel offers the best value on the Coast……Piriapolis.

You may not know this, but many Uruguayans and Argentines, cringe at the very mention of Piriapolis; they look down their noses at the town as shabby, low class even. For sure, many of the shops and stores along the Rambla are tacky and in some cases run-down or empty. There is plenty of room for improvement. Granted, real estate prices are substantially less than Puta del Este, but low class? Our feeling when we first came here was this could be a turn-around opportunity. Without question, this is the most beautiful place in the country; the buildings can be fixed. But that’s my personal feeling about the town.

So let’s look at the negative reactions of South Americans. Comments from locals made it clear they didn’t see a turn-around happening anytime soon. I asked one long-time resident how in the Hades can that be with everything that’s going on in our neighborhood. “This is Cerro San Antonio, different story,” he says. I didn’t get it. Pira himself laid out Saint Anthony’s Hill in the original design of the city. This hill is indeed Piriapolis, but as you see, some locals don’t see it that way.

Other natives talked about how much nicer Punta Colorada, Punta Fria, San Francisco, etc are. Well, on the surface this is certainly true. What’s missing is this: At best, these are just wide places in the road a few kilometers from Pira; there’s nothing there but a few houses. People from these “nice areas” shop at the same Devoto I do, buy basic supplies in the city core, go to Maldonado for major purchases, and they go to the same beaches I do. Somehow, we’re from different towns?

What happened? First, my Semantics failed. By always talking about ‘Piriapolis’ I confused people. If I had talked about The Piriapolis Area, the above reactions might have been different.

The other issue is Balkanization of Thinking. For some reason I don’t fully understand, many people in the immediate area consider themselves separate, above and apart from Piriapolis. I could be wrong, but it seems to me these folks have cut up and dissected The Piriapolis Area into these tiny, teeny pieces as if they are standalone parts. The fact is, they have little relevance out of the context of Pira. To me, we’re all talking about the same place.

Another example of Balkanization is the locals in the Piriapolis core. They don’t see us highlanders on the hillsides as part of their Piriapolis either? Confusing, no?

Then there’s the Balkanized Us (Trendy) vs. Them (the not so Trendy.) We don’t see it that way. For instance, like some of our readers, I’m bored with the hip, trendy blustering about Punta del Este.

So, the question remains. Will there be a rebirth, a turn-around, for our fair city? Let’s look at some of the conversations I’ve had with locals. One comment about the possibility was particularly surprising, “There’s not one major development there (Pira.)” Huh? Our hill and the Marina area are sure being developed. San Antonio hill will continue to bloom. It’s beautiful not only for the views, but the diversity of the people: Uruguayans, Argentines, North Americans, Europeans; houses worth a half million dollars and nice flats for $130,000 or so. There’s also a development (Sugar Loaf Spa Ocean Club and Spa) with homes well over $600,000 near Cerro Pan Azucar. From my vantage point, Sugar Loaf is Pira. With these developments IN the city and the immediate area, there is a possibility the shabby retail strip adjacent to the Rambla may be renewed to its former glory. As it is, the core of the town is sandwiched between the Cerro San Antonio/Marina area, the historic Argentino Hotel and a few other historic buildings on the opposite end of town with Cerro Pan Azucar.

So, the turn-around questions are these: Will the distaste some Uruguayans and Argies feel for our town change? How much does this really mater if it’s the January vacation crowd? Or, will the influx of rugged individualistic North Americans, Europeans and South Americans that visit throughout the spring, summer and fall make this a moot issue? Perhaps the Rebirth is already in play? That may be the real question. Come see for yourself.

Stay Tuned!

Steve Bowman

If you’re a regular reader, chances are you’re seriously considering buying property on the Coast. The question of the day is what area(s) offers the best environment for investing? Here’s our opinion on the specific spots providing decent investment opportunities. There’s more to the Coast than Punta del Este, by the way.

Let me introduce you to a compact area I call The Corridor. Punta del Este is the center of gravity for an area which extends from Piriapolis, through La Punta, to Jose Ignacio.

Below are two map links; the first is a graphic map, which illustrates The Corridor:

Graphical View

The second link below is a satellite view. The geography, towns and the density of population are more clearly defined.

Satellite View

(If you put your mouse cursor on the dots/boxes on the map, it will show the name of the town, area etc. Be sure to use the controls, upper left, to zoom in/out and change the direction of the view east/west & north/south.)

Here’s why we believe identifying this area is important. We always get questions about remote areas in Rocha, such as La Paloma, Cabo Polonio and Punta Diablo to a lesser extent. My take on it is this, if you want to live in splendid isolation, these villages are wonderful. Hum????? Not me. There’s little infrastructure and a social life would be nearly impossible for foreigners.

Here’s the investment rational for this zone. The Corridor is near a major international city, Montevideo. Piriapolis is less than one hour from the Montevideo airport and Jose Ignacio is less than two hours, basic criteria for mobile international investors fulfilled. So it’s like this, Piriapolis is the most beautiful place in Uruguay, not just the Coast, so it’s position is cemented. La Punta is the most developed, and is the center. Jose Ignacio is trendy, with the most cache, replete with Wall Street Journal articles praising it.

Going back to the satellite view you’ll see there’s little between Piriapolis and Punta Ballena, which is part of La Punta for all practical purposes, but untouched beach. On the opposite side of La Punta is La Barra. Between La Barra and picturesque Jose Ignacio, there is nothing but kilometers and kilometers of undeveloped, pristine beach.

Of these place, which offers the best value? Although I’m biased, I feel our home town of Piriapolis wins hands down. The Pira area has the county’s only mountains, best views in Uruguay, it’s the closest to Montevideo and is at the cusp of the Rio de Plata and the Atlantic. Therefore, the water quality is much better than the murky Rio. Last of all, property in Piriapolis is inexpensive in comparison as it is just now recovering from decades of neglect……it’s clearly a value play.

Investors and entrepreneurs for hundreds, if not thousands of years, have used a similar model to find opportunity.

Stay Tuned!

Steve Bowman