A recent story in the Wall Street Journal highlights how Argentina’s new President (who happens to be an economist), Javier Milei, scrapped their rental laws and most government price controls in an effort to revive South America’s second-largest economy. Most notable is his elimination of what the WSJ calls some of the strictest rent control laws in the world…indeed.
For years, Argentina imposed one of the world’s strictest rent-control laws. It was meant to keep homes such as the stately belle epoque apartments of Buenos Aires affordable, but instead, officials here say, rents soared.
Now, the country’s new president, Javier Milei, has scrapped the rental law, along with most government price controls, in a fiscal experiment that he is conducting to revive South America’s second-biggest economy.
The result: The Argentine capital is undergoing a rental-market boom. Landlords are rushing to put their properties back on the market, with Buenos Aires rental supplies increasing by over 170%. While rents are still up in nominal terms, many renters are getting better deals than ever, with a 40% decline in the real price of rental properties when adjusted for inflation since last October, said Federico González Rouco, an economist at Buenos Aires-based Empiria Consultores
Click here to read the full story at the Wall Street Journal.
