South America is a hotspot for American real estate investors.

 

Big-name American investors are flocking to South American real estate markets, with Brazil receiving the most interest. qatar villa

According to the International Herald Tribune, The Related Group, Donald Trump, and Sam Zell are among the real estate investors planning to create residential and commercial space in Brazil, Uruguay, and Colombia.

This is a significant shift in one of the industry's most popular narratives. South American residents are buying property in high-end locales like Miami and New York, according to media sources.

The trend is now reversing, with foreign and local real estate developers seeing South America as a safer bet. South America's population demographics and purchasing power are also improving.

"Someone from the interior of Brazil, who would have bought a home in Paris or New York in the past, will now buy it in Rio," José Conde Caldas, president of the Rio de Janeiro Association of Directors of Real Estate Companies, told the newspaper.

Brazil's investment profile has risen as a result of winning the right to host the 2016 Olympics and the finding of massive offshore oil deposits, according to the article. According to the IHT, the average price of a four-bedroom apartment in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, "increased over sixfold from 2008 to 2012, topping $2.5 million."

The chairman of Related Group, Jorge Pérez, told the daily that he "had an eye to the Rio market" and has launched a new company, Related Brasil, in response to the need for upmarket housing in the coming decade.

"We believe that over the next decade, Brazil will expand at a far faster rate than the United States, and certainly faster than Europe," Mr. Pérez said.

in relation to On the Morumbi district, Brasil aims to invest $100 million in a complex that will include residential, commercial, and retail space.

Colombia is also attracting greater international investment. Colombia should see expansion after years of drug wars and internal instability, according to the IHT, with the creation of a two-million-square-foot mixed-use complex by Equity International as part of a $75 million investment in Bogotá-based Terranum Corporate Properties.

"The marketplace will begin to become more crowded, as we've seen in Brazil," said Tom Heneghan, CEO of Equity International.

The office market in Colombia is heating up, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, with vacancy rates reducing in all of the major cities.

 

Colombia's demand for office space is increasing.

Vacancy rates in Colombian office space are declining, with demand in some areas reaching new highs.

According to a new research by Jones Lang LaSalle, vacancy rates in Colombia's three major cities fell below 10% in 2012, all improving from the previous year.

Bogotá's vacancy rate has dropped to 5.1 percent, the lowest level since 2009. With 190,000 square meters of absorption for the year, the city set a new record for absorption. Landlords of top-tier properties in the neighborhood are asking approximately 14% more each month, or $45 per square meter, than a year before.

 

According to the report, no new buildings were delivered in [Cali] in 2012, although office production increased in 2013 and 2014. Over 40,000 m2 will be added to the market in the next two years, including projects like the World Trade Center (8,000 m2), Holguines Torre Mayor (7,700 m2), and Edificio Avenida Colombia (12,000 m2), which will be the new headquarters of the Banco de Bogotá. Pre-sale prices range from USD $1,900 to $3,100 per square meter for these projects.

 

Colombia's economy rose 3.9 percent in 2012, with comparable outcomes in the country's other major cities.

According to the data, the city of Medelln had a vacancy rate of 3.7 percent in 2012, down from 7% the year before. Due to a scarcity of office space in the city, JLL anticipates an increase in office rental rates over the next two years. The firm claims that prices will still be lower than comparable properties in Bogotá.

According to JLL, Medelln is seeing interest from enterprises in Bogotá wishing to create secondary or smaller offices outside of the capital.

Demand is also increasing in Cali, a smaller market than Bogotá and Medelln. In 2012, the city's vacancy rate fell from 14 percent to 8%. According to the survey, tenants are facing less competitive options as prices rise. Cali has 154,000 square meters of office space, which is one-third of the total available in Medelln.