Apartment rental prices in the City of Buenos Aires had monthly increases of up to 12.5% and year-on-year increases of up to 75% in March, according to the report released by the Scalabrini Ortiz Center for Economic and Social Studies ( CEASE).
The entity also pointed out that the Minimum, Vital and Mobile Salary, of $33,000 in the analyzed month, was enough to cover 86.8% of the $38,000 that represents the median of studio apartments in the Buenos Aires district.
In relation to the $45,000 of the median of the apartments with two rooms and the $70,000 of those with three, the minimum wage has a coverage of 73.3% and 44%, respectively.
“Although this relationship had improved during the second half of 2021, this first quarter of the year shows a drop,” the CESO report indicated.
Likewise, he pointed out that the specified values ”do not include expenses, which reach an average of 18% of the rental cost.”
On the other hand, he clarified that the average prices for the entire city “vary depending on other characteristics (such as age, if it has a garage, etc.) and its environment (infrastructure, availability of transport, proximity to shopping centers, among others). others)”.
The increases compared to February 2022 were 8.6% in studio apartments, 12.5% for two-room apartments and 8.9% in three-room apartments.
Regarding the variation compared to March 2021, the cost of renting a studio apartment in the City of Buenos Aires increased 58.3%, for a two-room unit it rose 60.7% and for a three-room apartment the increase was 75%, according to the measurements of the entity directed by the economist Andrés Asiaín.
CESO also highlighted that the Index for Lease Contracts (ICL) published daily by the Central Bank “shows a year-on-year increase of 51.7% on the first business day of March”, while the variation to date reaches 53.3 % compared to March 23, 2021.
The study center noted in its report that “although renting can involve problems when it comes to obtaining guarantees or paying commissions, the cost of renting is the first -and in many cases the biggest- barrier to entry.”
“In the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, high prices prevent a large part of the population from renting even an average studio apartment, pushing them towards areas with lower quality infrastructure and services,” he warned in this regard.
