International Real Estate in Argentina from SpottingTrends

International Real Estate in Argentina

We live in a global economy which means we can live, invest and earn where it is best for us, not just where we live or were born. It makes sense to diversify outside our place of residence especially before the economy goes south. In many parts of the industrialized world, a weakened economy is now cause for concern because so much of the global economy has been lifted by rising US real estate prices.

A recent article in USA Today entitled “New-home sales plunge 9.9%,confidence drops” by Martin Crutsinger, explains that this may be changing. Here are excerpts from that article:

“Sales of new homes plunged 9.9% in August, biggest drop in nine months, as the nation's housing industry continued to flash mixed signals about whether the boom is starting to fade.

“That marked the biggest fall since October 1990 when the index fell 23 points to 62.6 in the wake of the recession. The September reading was also the lowest since October 2003, when it registered 81.7.

“The bigger-than-expected drop in new-home sales could be an indication that the nation's red-hot housing market is beginning to slow, but reports so far are mixed.

“The 9.9% decline in new-home sales was more than double what analysts had been expecting. The government also revised the July sales pace lower, to an annual rate of 1.37 million units, still a 5.3% increase from June.

“The decline in sales in August was the biggest drop since a 10% fall in November 2004.

“Many economists believe rising mortgage rates finally are starting to have an impact on the booming housing market. They are still forecasting that sales for all this year will set all-time highs, the fifth straight year that sales of both new and existing homes have set records.

“But analysts are forecasting a slight decline in sales for 2006 with prices moderating and possibly even declining in some of the hottest markets.

“Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has been raising concerns about what a cooling housing market might do to the country's banks and overall economy.”

We should all be concerned because US consumer spending (which has been driving the global economy) has been fueled by rising US property prices. A drop in the prices could create all types of economic problems.

This is why we are reviewing real estate opportunity around the word this week and today’s review looks at the Ushay forestry project in Argentina. Our friend Steve Rosberg reports:

“I am pleased to bring you up to date. For those of you who have invested and those who have considered it, here is some very positive news on La Negra:

“We took possession of La Negra on schedule on August 31st., and have completed the preliminary survey of the property, marking off the future water-level. We are satisfied that all is according to expectations.

“We also met extensively with the sellers, who are gradually clearing the old eucalyptus stand. We reached an agreement whereby we limit their activities to a sector of the property until year’s end or early 2006, and then move on to another sector. They also handed over a portion that they are not interested in clearing, which allows us to do this ourselves and create some non-budgeted income. Which means that we are modestly better than budget both on the expenses and on the income, the way we like it.

“We are in the process of negotiating with several yerba mate (the typically Argentine green tea) packers so that they collect all the firewood lying around for their drying kilns. This will allow us to clean up the large amounts of wood without burning it on the premises, and possibly with a small income (instead of budgeted cleanup expense).

“Tomorrow morning (September 24th) we sign the lease agreement with Dr. Antonio Armanini, a prominent lawyer and cattle rancher of Posadas. He will build a house for his manager, overhaul the existing cattle management installations and start the cattle grazing operation as we gradually release surfaces for this purpose.

“For several weeks we have been negotiating with the "Bolsa de Comercio Confederada" - a stock exchange in Corrientes (www.bolsanor.com) - to appoint them private placement agents. We expect to sign our agreement before the end of September. This is important because they have important placement capacity locally and through their agency of European Union cooperation agencies and because having passed their due-diligence procedure is a valuable endorsement.

“We met for dinner with José Oricchio, our neighbor to the north-east. Aside from sharing a memorable evening, it was very positive in that Mr. Oricchio has a firm stance on conservation matters that we share. In this way, the monkeys, swamp-deer, foxes and other endangered species that survive in the small portions of native rainforest on the properties will continue to thrive. Fly fishing of the world-famous doradowill continue to be done on a catch-and-release basis. We will not have police rights (nor will we want them), but will invite everyone to respect these policies.

“This week we started advertising locally, with a very positive initial response. At the time of writing, of the 50 units, 17 have been signed and paid, three are in signing process, and 5 more are reserved.

We have received many raves about Argentina and have long recommended investing in forestry. There is more on forestry.

International Real Estate in Argentina

By Gary Scott