Argentina housing market 2026: prices, costs, FSBO

Argentina has no single official national median, so the market reads off the Zonaprop ZPIndex for the City of Buenos Aires (CABA). In May 2026 the CABA average asking price was USD 2,462 per square meter, up 1.9% year on year, the slowest 12-month rise in 26 months, and essentially flat month to month at +0.1%. Prices have stopped falling and turned marginally higher, but the market is still about 12% below its series peak, so this is a recovery, not a boom.

The rest of the country is much cheaper. Rosario sits near USD 1,841/m2 (May 2026) and Cordoba near USD 1,443/m2 (late 2025, our most recent confirmed figure for that city), versus CABA as the priciest market nationally. Within CABA the spread is wide: Palermo (USD 3,212/m2) and Belgrano (USD 2,956/m2) at the top, La Boca (USD 687/m2) and Villa Soldati (USD 710/m2) at the bottom.

Our own live read on June 23, 2026 of active Zonaprop two-room (2 ambientes) listings found a median asking price of USD 177,500 in CABA, USD 87,700 in Cordoba, and USD 90,000 in Rosario, with a cross-city pooled median near USD 120,000 across 73 units. Rolling the official index forward one month at the recent trend nowcasts CABA at about USD 2,464/m2 for June, so a typical 50 m2 two-room apartment is roughly USD 123,000 and a 70 m2 three-room around USD 172,000. Remember these are asking, not closing, prices, so expect to negotiate.

Seller-side costs in Argentina are unusually low. The big recent change is that the old 1.5% transfer tax (ITI) was repealed in 2024. In its place, sales of property acquired after January 1, 2018 face a 15% cedular capital-gains tax on the inflation-adjusted gain, but the sale of your single permanent home (casa-habitacion) is exempt, and so is selling to buy or build another home within one year. Property bought before 2018 is outside this tax entirely. Confirm your own position with an accountant, since this area has moved fast.

The transaction tax that remains is the provincial stamp tax (Impuesto de Sellos), around 3.5% total in CABA and legally split 50/50, so roughly 1.75% on the seller, though in practice it is negotiable and buyers often absorb it. On top of that a seller typically pays only about 0.6% to 1.5% for the title study, certificates, and the seller's notarial contribution. The notary's main professional fee of about 1.5% to 2% + VAT is customarily paid by the buyer, not you.

Who pays the agent matters here, because both sides pay separately. The seller customarily pays the listing agent about 2.5% to 3% + 21% VAT, while the buyer pays their own 3% to 4% + VAT to the agency. There is no single combined commission borne by one party. On a USD 150,000 sale, an all-in seller bill with an agent lands near USD 9,600, or about 6.4% of price, and the agent commission is the single largest, and most avoidable, line.

Using a real estate agency (inmobiliaria) is optional, and selling as dueno directo (owner-direct) is fully legal and reasonably common. Sellers go this route mainly to avoid the listing-side ~3% + VAT commission. On the USD 150,000 example that is roughly USD 5,400 kept in your pocket.

What you cannot skip is the escribano (notary). Argentine law requires a property transfer to be completed by public deed (escritura publica) signed before a licensed escribano, who runs the title study, clears certificates, and registers the sale. By custom the buyer chooses and pays the escribano, so going FSBO does not add that cost to you.

A private sale means you handle pricing, photos, listings, showings, and the offer yourself. The owner-direct ecosystem is well established: the main general portals carry dueno directo filters, and there are dedicated owner-only sites, several with free listing tiers. Price from real comparables in your barrio, list in USD because the residential market transacts in dollars, and treat the reserva and boleto de compraventa as binding preliminary steps before the deed.