Mortgage-Backed Home Deeds in Buenos Aires Fell 20.8% in August

Buenos Aires notaries recorded 6,055 sale deeds in August 2026, 4.9% fewer than a year earlier, and just 1,059 were backed by a mortgage, down 20.8%.

Buyers signed 6,055 property sale deeds in the City of Buenos Aires in August 2026, 4.9% fewer than the 6,370 recorded in August 2025. Only 1,059 of them were backed by a mortgage, 20.8% fewer than a year earlier. The city's association of notaries published the monthly figures on 22 September 2026.

The credit channel is closing faster than the market

Total transaction value reached 1,098,513 million pesos, up 4.8% on the year, so more money is moving across fewer deeds. The average deed came to 181,422,612 pesos, or USD 119,270: 10.3% higher than a year ago in pesos, but 2.7% lower in dollars, which is the currency this market actually prices itself in.

Mortgage lending is the part that has broken. Over the first eight months of 2026 the city recorded 6,170 mortgage-backed deeds against 9,341 in the same period of 2025, a fall of almost 34%. Total deeds over those eight months came to 41,583, down only 2.3%. The overall market is close to flat while the financed slice of it has lost a third.

August itself was an ordinary month

Set against July 2026, when 6,051 deeds were signed, August was up 0.1%, which is to say unchanged. The association's president, Magdalena Tato, described the market as having real room to grow while pointing to the distance between sales activity and the availability of mortgage finance. That distance is the story: the transaction market is functioning, the credit market is not.

It is worth separating the two signals. A 4.9% annual fall in deeds is a modest wobble in a market that has been recovering from a very low base. A 34% collapse in mortgage-financed purchases over eight months is a structural change in who can buy at all.

What it costs to own in Buenos Aires

Apartments across the city carry an average asking price of about USD 2,471 per square metre, with asking rents near USD 10.96 per square metre a month in the two-room segment. That puts the gross rental yield at roughly 5.3%, or about 4.2% after the effective 21% tax on rental income. Transaction costs run close to 10.9% of the purchase price, a heavy entry toll by international standards.

Asking prices are up about 1.3% over the past year in dollar terms, while the average deed lost 2.7% of its dollar value. The gap is a reminder that what is selling, not only the price per square metre, shapes the headline number. On valuation the market reads as moderately stretched rather than extreme.

For a cash buyer, a month in which fewer than one deed in five was financed is an advantage: competition from leveraged bidders is thin, and the discount sits in the negotiation. For anyone relying on an Argentine mortgage, the eight-month trend is the warning. Until that line turns, deed volumes in Buenos Aires will keep running on savings rather than on credit.

Sources: Colegio de Escribanos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Cantidad de escrituras de compraventa realizadas en Agosto 2026, 22 September 2026 https://www.colegio-escribanos.org.ar/2026/09/22/cantidad-de-escrituras-de-compraventa-realizadas-en-agosto-2026/

Market data: Buenos Aires · Argentina