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Construction in Buenos Aires: 70% of new buildings will be concentrated in nine neighborhoods - La Nacion Propiedades
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www.lanacion.com.ar
February 07, 2026
Núñez, Colegiales and Saavedra are some of the areas that developers are looking to build real estate projects.
By Candela Contreras
70% of the construction will be concentrated in nine Buenos Aires neighborhoods. Daniel Basualdo
By 2026, real estate development in the city of Buenos Aires will not be homogeneous : seven out of ten projects will be concentrated in nine neighborhoods . The resulting map is not surprising : corridors that are already functioning are deepening their expansion, while large areas of the city continue to wait for more favorable economic conditions. There will not be an even expansion, but rather a deepening of the trends already visible
Construction activity will continue to be geographically polarized , with established corridors deepening their expansion while large areas of the city await their moment, according to an analysis by the Terres platform that studied more than 5,500 plots of land in Buenos Aires.
The nine neighborhoods that will lead construction in the City will account for approximately 70% of new construction projects , square meters to be built, and land sales transactions in the near future. These are:
“It’s not an equitable or random distribution,” explains Federico Akerman, director of Terres. “These neighborhoods combine three critical factors : regulations that allow for densification, infrastructure that supports growth, and validated demand that justifies new projects. Where these three elements coincide, the market is activated .”
Nine neighborhoods will lead construction in the cityHernan Zenteno - La Nacion
For a real estate project to be viable, the sale price per square meter of finished space must exceed the sum of the land price, construction costs, and the developer's profit margin. In neighborhoods with high activity, this calculation works out. In the rest of the city, some variable falls short.
In the south, the main problem is property values . In areas without recent infrastructure, demand is weak. And in traditional areas of the historic corridor, such as parts of Recoleta or Retiro, land prices are so high that they erode profitability.
Comparisons with other cycles are inevitable. “In 2017-2019, the mortgage boom allowed more neighborhoods to participate in growth. Today, without that external engine, the market is much more selective ,” Akerman summarized.
Another key element would be a significant rise in land prices in the most sought-after neighborhoods , which would push developers to seek more affordable alternatives . And, as always, a potential return of widespread mortgage lending would broaden the demand base and allow more neighborhoods to participate in the growth .
But none of that seems imminent. If there are fundamental changes, the market will begin to see them sometime after 2026.
The northern corridor will concentrate between 40% and 45% of the total activity. Ricardo Pristupluk
On January 1, 2019, after being approved on December 6, 2018, the new Building Code came into effect and with it a fairly clear trend began to emerge: the consolidation of the northern corridor and the expansion towards low-density neighborhoods that, with the new rules, gained height and attractiveness for developers.
The regulatory change was a turning point. It not only modified urban planning parameters, but also the way in which construction projects were approved and registered. And then updates were applied to that code.
During this period, between 2019 and December 2025, a total of 6,022 new construction permits were granted in the City of Buenos Aires, according to the Buenos Aires City Institute of Statistics and Censuses . The year with the highest activity was 2021 , with a total of 1,038 new construction permits, driven by the reactivation following the near-total standstill of 2020, when the pandemic froze the issuance of new authorizations. The reaction was decisive: the sector took advantage of historically low dollar values and relatively affordable construction costs .
The data analyzed shows that, when examining the surface area registered for new construction , Belgrano stands out with record figures. In 2019 alone, it registered more than 682,000 m² of new construction, maintaining a leading position that extended into the post-pandemic period with significant peaks in 2021 and 2023.
For its part, Palermo stands out as the neighborhood with the most consistent construction volume . Unlike other areas that experienced sharp declines, Palermo maintained a flow of registered surface area exceeding 130,000 m² annually for almost the entire period, reaching 307,855 m² in 2024 alone .
However, when analyzing at the district level, the top spots again tilt towards the north. Between 2019 and 2025, District 13 (comprising Belgrano, Colegiales, and Núñez) led the city in the concentration of square meters of new construction , with a total of 3,181,549 m² registered .
The ranking of the municipalities that lead in construction is as follows:
“The analysis of building permits reveals much more than cyclical fluctuations: it demonstrates a concrete reconfiguration of the city's territory. A permit granted does not equate to an immediately completed building, but neither is it an abstract intention: it marks the starting point of what will actually be built and serves as a reliable indicator of the near urban future,” explains Federico Akerman, director of Terres, a real estate platform specializing in land.
Meanwhile, at the same time, Chacarita and Villa Crespo experienced a recent boom: in 2023, Chacarita reached a peak of 101,930 m² , surpassing several neighboring neighborhoods and positioning itself as a new investment hub.
“Villa Urquiza, Devoto, and Saavedra have ceased to be peripheral alternatives and have become protagonists of the construction boom. They function as a natural extension of the traditional northern zone, although with their own characteristics in terms of plot size and permitted heights,” Akerman points out.
" That Palermo or Belgrano top the rankings is predictable; the novelty is that Devoto, Saavedra or Urquiza compete with comparable figures and, in some indicators, even surpass historically central districts," Akerman concludes.
On the other side of the map, the picture is very different. The southern zone remains on the sidelines of the major construction activity. Neither Parque Patricios, nor Barracas, nor Nueva Pompeya appear among the neighborhoods with the highest volume of new construction, even though since 2023 the Buenos Aires City Government has been promoting specific incentives in the new draft building code to reverse this disparity. The difficulty of accessing mortgage loans continues to push the market to concentrate in the north and northwest of the city.
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Construcción en CABA: el 70% de los nuevos edificios se concentrará en nueve barrios
Núñez, Colegiales y Saavedra son algunas de las zonas que los desarrolladores buscan para levantar proyectos inmobiliarios
www.lanacion.com.ar
February 07, 2026
Núñez, Colegiales and Saavedra are some of the areas that developers are looking to build real estate projects.
By Candela Contreras
70% of the construction will be concentrated in nine Buenos Aires neighborhoods. Daniel Basualdo
By 2026, real estate development in the city of Buenos Aires will not be homogeneous : seven out of ten projects will be concentrated in nine neighborhoods . The resulting map is not surprising : corridors that are already functioning are deepening their expansion, while large areas of the city continue to wait for more favorable economic conditions. There will not be an even expansion, but rather a deepening of the trends already visible
Construction activity will continue to be geographically polarized , with established corridors deepening their expansion while large areas of the city await their moment, according to an analysis by the Terres platform that studied more than 5,500 plots of land in Buenos Aires.
The nine neighborhoods that will lead construction in the City will account for approximately 70% of new construction projects , square meters to be built, and land sales transactions in the near future. These are:
- Núñez
- Saavedra
- Villa Urquiza
- Colegiales
- Belgrano
- Palermo
- Villa Crespo
- Caballito
- Almagro
“It’s not an equitable or random distribution,” explains Federico Akerman, director of Terres. “These neighborhoods combine three critical factors : regulations that allow for densification, infrastructure that supports growth, and validated demand that justifies new projects. Where these three elements coincide, the market is activated .”
Nine neighborhoods will lead construction in the cityHernan Zenteno - La Nacion
A map concentrated by zones
In concrete terms, the survey projects a city fragmented into four large development zones :- The expanded northern corridor (Núñez, Saavedra, Villa Urquiza, Colegiales, and Belgrano) will concentrate between 40% and 45% of total activity . This is due in part to existing or ongoing infrastructure, sustained demand, and an urban fabric that can accommodate replacements and increased density without major conflicts.
- Established, high-turnover areas like Palermo, Villa Crespo, Caballito, and Almagro will account for between 30% and 35% of the total. These are proven markets with sales prices that validate new projects and a relatively predictable market share. The limiting factor, developers warn, is the growing lack of available properties in certain price ranges.
- A third group comprises the neighborhoods undergoing gradual integration ( Agronomía, Paternal, Villa Ortúzar, and Chacarita ), which will absorb between 15% and 20% of the activity. They are growing due to overflow from the most dynamic areas, with supportive regulations and still competitive land values.
- Finally , areas with untapped potential — Parque Patricios, Nueva Pompeya, Boedo, San Telmo, Constitución, Flores, and Villa Soldati—will attract between 10% and 15% of the projects . According to the report, the factors contributing to this are related to their regulatory capacity and specific opportunities, but also to an economic equation strained by final sale prices that fail to cover costs and risks.
For a real estate project to be viable, the sale price per square meter of finished space must exceed the sum of the land price, construction costs, and the developer's profit margin. In neighborhoods with high activity, this calculation works out. In the rest of the city, some variable falls short.
In the south, the main problem is property values . In areas without recent infrastructure, demand is weak. And in traditional areas of the historic corridor, such as parts of Recoleta or Retiro, land prices are so high that they erode profitability.
Comparisons with other cycles are inevitable. “In 2017-2019, the mortgage boom allowed more neighborhoods to participate in growth. Today, without that external engine, the market is much more selective ,” Akerman summarized.
Can the scenario change by 2026?
For this year, the consensus is that there will be no major surprises . The map is already fairly well defined. However, there are factors that could modify it in the medium term . Significant infrastructure projects (such as subway extensions—as may happen with the new Line F—transport corridors, or urban renewal projects) could improve the economic situation of currently neglected areas . Targeted regulatory changes could also incentivize development in specific areas.Another key element would be a significant rise in land prices in the most sought-after neighborhoods , which would push developers to seek more affordable alternatives . And, as always, a potential return of widespread mortgage lending would broaden the demand base and allow more neighborhoods to participate in the growth .
But none of that seems imminent. If there are fundamental changes, the market will begin to see them sometime after 2026.
The northern corridor will concentrate between 40% and 45% of the total activity. Ricardo Pristupluk
The neighborhoods with the most construction in the last seven years
To put this in context, it is important to emphasize how the map of Buenos Aires has changed in recent years .On January 1, 2019, after being approved on December 6, 2018, the new Building Code came into effect and with it a fairly clear trend began to emerge: the consolidation of the northern corridor and the expansion towards low-density neighborhoods that, with the new rules, gained height and attractiveness for developers.
The regulatory change was a turning point. It not only modified urban planning parameters, but also the way in which construction projects were approved and registered. And then updates were applied to that code.
During this period, between 2019 and December 2025, a total of 6,022 new construction permits were granted in the City of Buenos Aires, according to the Buenos Aires City Institute of Statistics and Censuses . The year with the highest activity was 2021 , with a total of 1,038 new construction permits, driven by the reactivation following the near-total standstill of 2020, when the pandemic froze the issuance of new authorizations. The reaction was decisive: the sector took advantage of historically low dollar values and relatively affordable construction costs .
The data analyzed shows that, when examining the surface area registered for new construction , Belgrano stands out with record figures. In 2019 alone, it registered more than 682,000 m² of new construction, maintaining a leading position that extended into the post-pandemic period with significant peaks in 2021 and 2023.
For its part, Palermo stands out as the neighborhood with the most consistent construction volume . Unlike other areas that experienced sharp declines, Palermo maintained a flow of registered surface area exceeding 130,000 m² annually for almost the entire period, reaching 307,855 m² in 2024 alone .
However, when analyzing at the district level, the top spots again tilt towards the north. Between 2019 and 2025, District 13 (comprising Belgrano, Colegiales, and Núñez) led the city in the concentration of square meters of new construction , with a total of 3,181,549 m² registered .
The ranking of the municipalities that lead in construction is as follows:
- Commune 14 (Palermo) : remains in second place with approximately 1,725,322 m².
- Commune 12 (Saavedra, Villa Urquiza, Villa Pueyrredón and Coghlan) , which stands out for the largest number of individual permits granted (around 901) totaling about 1,314,996 m².
- Commune 15 (Villa Crespo, Chacarita, Villa Ortúzar, Paternal and Agronomía) , with sustained growth since 2022 and approximately 1,241,678 m² accumulated.
- Commune 11 (Villa Devoto, Villa del Parque, Villa Santa Rita and Villa General Mitre) , which closes the last place with a total of approximately 1,048,420 m².
“The analysis of building permits reveals much more than cyclical fluctuations: it demonstrates a concrete reconfiguration of the city's territory. A permit granted does not equate to an immediately completed building, but neither is it an abstract intention: it marks the starting point of what will actually be built and serves as a reliable indicator of the near urban future,” explains Federico Akerman, director of Terres, a real estate platform specializing in land.
The “Revelation” Neighborhoods
Beyond the classic neighborhoods of the northern part of Buenos Aires, there were “revelation” neighborhoods that captured the market's attention. Villa Urquiza led the number of individual permits for several years . In 2021, for example, it registered 140,122 m² of new construction, consolidating itself as one of the areas with the greatest residential transformationMeanwhile, at the same time, Chacarita and Villa Crespo experienced a recent boom: in 2023, Chacarita reached a peak of 101,930 m² , surpassing several neighboring neighborhoods and positioning itself as a new investment hub.
“Villa Urquiza, Devoto, and Saavedra have ceased to be peripheral alternatives and have become protagonists of the construction boom. They function as a natural extension of the traditional northern zone, although with their own characteristics in terms of plot size and permitted heights,” Akerman points out.
" That Palermo or Belgrano top the rankings is predictable; the novelty is that Devoto, Saavedra or Urquiza compete with comparable figures and, in some indicators, even surpass historically central districts," Akerman concludes.
On the other side of the map, the picture is very different. The southern zone remains on the sidelines of the major construction activity. Neither Parque Patricios, nor Barracas, nor Nueva Pompeya appear among the neighborhoods with the highest volume of new construction, even though since 2023 the Buenos Aires City Government has been promoting specific incentives in the new draft building code to reverse this disparity. The difficulty of accessing mortgage loans continues to push the market to concentrate in the north and northwest of the city.
www.buysellba.com
