Renting and finding property

Property for sale in Argentina: where to look and what to know before you pay a deposit

By Nico F. · Updated October 14, 2026

General information, not legal, immigration or tax advice. Rules, exchange rates and prices change and every case has its own details. Before you pay, sign or apply for residency, check the current rules with an Argentine notary (escribano), lawyer or accountant.

Quick answer Houses and apartments for sale in Argentina are listed mainly on Spanish-language portals. On October 14, 2026, Mercado Libre showed 145,988 houses and 176,634 apartments for sale, and Argenprop 124,591 houses and 179,154 apartments (counts include duplicates). Ley 26.737 sets no nationality limit on urban property; a purchase in a border security zone can need prior approval. Zonaprop's September 2026 average ask for apartments in the city was USD 2,484 per m². Broker commission is agreed between the parties; the city's brokers' law (Ley 2340) sets no percentage for a sale.

Terms used: an escribano is the notary who checks the title and closes the sale, the escritura is the public deed, the boleto de compraventa is the preliminary private contract, a seña is a deposit, a corredor is a real estate broker and the matrícula is the broker's license number. CABA is the city of Buenos Aires, CUCICBA is the city's brokers' college, and expensas are building fees. ARS means Argentine pesos.

Where are houses and apartments for sale listed?

The counts below are the numbers each portal displayed on October 14, 2026 for sale listings across Argentina. They include agencies that post the same property more than once, so they do not count unique properties, and they change daily. The portal's own search page shows the current figure.

Portal Houses (casas) Apartments (departamentos)
Mercado Libre Inmuebles 145,988 176,634
Argenprop 124,591 179,154
RE/MAX Argentina (all property types for sale) 65,112

Points about these sources:

The property feed at /aggregator.html lists a selection of land, rural homes, vineyards and estancias for sale, mainly in Patagonia, Mendoza and Córdoba; it holds almost no city apartments. Cards link to the source listing, prices are asking prices parsed automatically, and a listing may already be sold. The feed is described in land for sale in Argentina.

Searching the portals is the first step. The city-level view is in buying an apartment in Buenos Aires as a foreigner, places to live are compared in the best places to live in Argentina, and renting first is covered in apartments for rent in Buenos Aires.

Can a foreigner buy a house or apartment in Argentina?

Yes, without residency. Ley 26.737 covers rural land only: art. 1 defines tierras rurales as any parcel outside the ejido urbano (the urban area), so it sets no nationality restriction on a flat or house inside it. Two checks apply before a deposit:

The rural land law is provisional as of October 14, 2026, which matters only for rural land: on October 9, 2026 the Supreme Court provisionally suspended the effects of art. 154 of DNU 70/2023, the decree that repealed Ley 26.737, in a case from Bariloche, and a special session of the Chamber of Deputies on DNU 70/2023 was requested for October 15, 2026 (quorum 129; outcome unknown as of October 14, 2026). Ley 26.737 never covered urban property. The full steps and costs are in buying a house or apartment in Argentina as a foreigner.

What do the terms in a property listing mean?

Term What it means Note
Ambientes Portals show rooms ("2 ambientes") and bathrooms as separate fields Portals do not define the count; in common usage it covers living and sleeping rooms, usually without bathroom and kitchen, so ask for a floor plan
m² totales, m² cubiertos Total and covered area, the two figures the RE/MAX screen shows for apartments The ad's figures are the seller's description. In Buenos Aires city, Ley 2340 art. 12 requires a licensed broker's ad to be precise and unequivocal, to state the type of offer clearly and not to announce qualities the property lacks
Expensas Building fees Shown in pesos next to a dollar price on the RE/MAX screen on October 14, 2026 (for example a price of 183,000 USD with expensas of 278,000 ARS)
USD or ARS price The currency of the ask Read the symbol on every ad
Seña, reserva A deposit. Civil and Commercial Code art. 1059: a seña confirms the contract unless the parties agree a right to withdraw; in that case the giver loses it and the receiver returns it doubled Legal commentary notes a reserva is not a separate legal figure, so its wording decides whether it behaves as a seña (Derecho en Zapatillas, 2025, cited on buying a house or apartment as a foreigner). Art. 1060: money given of the same kind as the debt counts as part of the payment
Boleto de compraventa The private purchase contract Art. 1017: contracts to acquire, modify or extinguish real rights over immovable property must be in a public deed. Art. 1018: a promise to sign the deed is enforceable, and a judge can sign for a party in default if the counter-performances are fulfilled or secured. Art. 1170 gives a good-faith buyer priority over third parties who obtained injunctions if four conditions are met, including at least 25% of the price paid before the injunction. See the boleto
Escritura, posesión The public deed before an escribano is the title; delivery of possession is the mode that transfers ownership of land (art. 1892); registration makes the transfer enforceable against third parties (art. 1893). Possession is the power of fact over the thing (art. 1909) Art. 1139: the seller delivers the property immediately after the deed, unless agreed otherwise
Escritura inmediata, posesión inmediata A seller's statement in an ad "Escritura inmediata" is a seller's wording in an ad, not a defined legal term; what it promises is whatever the boleto says
Apto crédito The poster's description that a bank mortgage could be arranged Chubb Argentina's explainer says it is not an official certification or a stamp issued by a body; the bank checks during appraisal and title review
Barrio cerrado, club de campo Gated developments In Buenos Aires province, a 2020 resolution (RESO-2020-650-GDEBA-MGGP) recites that registration in the province's register of closed developments is a prior and indispensable condition for selling their units. Ask whether the development is registered
Valor escriturado, VIR The value in the deed, and in the city the reference value The escribano collects the city's stamp tax and must check the Valor Inmobiliario de Referencia (VIR); the tax base is the greater of the price, the fiscal valuation and the VIR (Colegio de Escribanos table). The city government says the VIR exists to make property operations transparent and to prevent under-reporting of the price on which the tax is calculated

How does a broker's commission work?

Broker commission is agreed between the parties; it is worth fixing in writing.

Source Date What it says
Ley 2340, text on the Boletín Oficial de la Ciudad site Published text Art. 11, item 2: the broker's fee from the person who engaged them is "la retribución que libremente pacten" (the pay they freely agree), and from the other party "la que se establezca por la ley" (the amount set by law). Rentals are a different case: for housing leases with an individual tenant in the city, Ley 5.859 bars charging the tenant and caps the landlord's side at 4.15% (see apartments for rent in Buenos Aires); the text sets no percentage for a sale. A later amendment would need checking with the college
iProfesional May 25, 2026 The seller usually pays 3% to 4%, negotiable (the article does not say which jurisdiction)
Argentina Visa Law September 2026 About 3% plus VAT per side, up to 4% on complex deals; listed as 3.63% among buyer costs

The Civil and Commercial Code adds three rules. Art. 1350: the broker has a right to the stipulated commission if the deal results from their intervention; if none was stipulated, local custom applies, and otherwise a judge fixes it. Art. 1351: when only one broker intervenes, all parties owe the commission unless agreed otherwise or one party protests; when each party has its own broker, each charges only their own principal. Art. 1352 c): the commission is also due when the broker started the negotiation and the owner then concludes it directly or through another person on substantially similar terms.

What to do: ask in writing who engaged the broker, the percentage, whether VAT is added and when it is due, and have it in the reserva. Do not assume the seller pays.

Exclusive and open listings. In Buenos Aires city a broker may ask the owner for a written authorization to sell exclusively for an agreed term (Ley 2340 art. 11, item 7), and may not accept an assignment while an earlier authorization to another broker is unexpired and unrevoked (art. 13, item 2). Whether a sale by the owner alone during an exclusive term owes commission otherwise depends on the contract.

How do you verify a real estate broker?

  1. Ask for the matrícula number and the body that issued it. A licensed broker in Buenos Aires city must state the matrícula number in all documents they sign (Ley 2340 art. 10). RE/MAX listings show the number with the body, for example "CUCICBA 1762" or "CCPIM 783" on the listings screen on October 14, 2026. A listing that shows no number is a reason to ask.
  2. Confirm it with the college. In the city, the college is CUCICBA (cucicba.org.ar); use the phone number on the college's own website, not one the broker supplies. The Mendoza college is the CCPIM; the register for Río Negro, Neuquén and Chubut is covered in buying land from the owner in Argentina.
  3. Know what a license changes. Under Ley 20.266, as amended by Ley 25.028, art. 33, a person who acts as a broker without meeting the licensing conditions has no right of action to collect remuneration. In Buenos Aires city, unlicensed persons cannot act as brokers (Ley 2340 art. 15) and cannot demand payment (art. 16).
  4. Know what a broker owes the buyer. Civil and Commercial Code art. 1347: verify identity and legal capacity, present deals accurately, clearly and precisely, and communicate all relevant circumstances known to them. In Buenos Aires city a broker must also request reports on title, liens and inhibitions and make them available to the parties (Ley 2340 art. 10). Ask for them.
  5. Watch the law. Infobae reported on July 13, 2026 that the government planned to send a bill ending mandatory enrollment in a professional college and repealing sanctions for practicing without a license. A bill is not law: the license requirement above applies until a law changes it.

A license does not replace the escribano's title study. The land scams page recommends paying through the notary rather than to a personal account. More on fake owners and fake listings: Argentina land scams: red flags, whose checks also apply to a house.

What should be checked on a listing before a deposit?

What do 2026 price and deed data show?

All figures below are for Buenos Aires city. They are not national figures.

Measure Figure Source and date
Average ask, apartments USD 2,484 per m², +0.3% in the month, +1.3% over 12 months, 11.3% below the series peak Zonaprop Index, September 2026
Typical apartments 40 m² studio about USD 110,000; 50 m² two-room about USD 131,000; 70 m² three-room about USD 180,000 Zonaprop Index, September 2026
Houses USD 1,822 per m²; 170 m² three-bedroom house about USD 302,000 Zonaprop Index, September 2026
Median ask, apartments USD 2,813 per m² across 57,370 listings Mudafy, data of October 8, 2026
Closed sales, used one-to-three-room apartments Average USD 2,084 per m² in April 2026, 4.96% below the last published price M2 Real index (Universidad del CEMA, RE/MAX Argentina, Reporte Inmobiliario), Cronista, May 27, 2026
Closed sales in Mudafy's network Median 3.9% below the last published price Mudafy, data of October 8, 2026

Zonaprop reports an average and Mudafy a median, and they cover different dates, so the two asking figures do not rank against each other. Neighborhood figures are in buying an apartment in Buenos Aires as a foreigner, and monthly costs of living in the cost of living in Buenos Aires.

Deeds registered in Buenos Aires city (Colegio de Escribanos, sale deeds, compraventas):

Month Deeds Against the same month of the previous year
December 2025 7,646 -0.3%
July 2026 6,051 -9%
August 2026 6,055 -4.9%

In August 2026 the average deed was ARS 181.4 million, about USD 119,270 in the Colegio's report; deeds with a mortgage numbered 1,059 (-20.8%). From January to August 2026 there were 41,583 deeds (-2.3%), and mortgage deeds were 6,170 against 9,341 a year earlier (about -34%). As of October 14, 2026 the Colegio had not published its September report; its posts have appeared between about the 22nd and 26th of the following month. These figures cover Buenos Aires city deeds only.

See also: the cost of living in Buenos Aires, the blue dollar and exchange rates for foreigners and whether buying property gives residency.

See also: the Argentina expat guide.

Sources

Argentina updates

Rule changes, prices and new guides for buying property and living in Argentina. No fixed schedule.