Argentina’s long-dormant mortgage market is experiencing an unexpected resurgence under economic reforms of President Javier Milei, Reuters reports.
After years of near-total collapse–driven by triple-digit inflation, currency instability, and deep public distrust in financial institutions–new mortgage approvals in Buenos Aires province surged by nearly 500% year-on-year in early 2025, reaching levels unseen since 2018.
The revival, though modest compared to regional peers, marks a significant shift for a country where cash transactions have dominated property deals for decades. Central bank data shows the mortgage market has tripled in size to 2.3 billion (£1.8 billion), though it remains a fraction of its 2018 peak of 8.3 billion.
Guillermo Longhi, president of the Buenos Aires Notaries’ Association, attributes this to Milei’s aggressive austerity measures, which have curbed inflation and stabilised the fiscal deficit.
The conditions needed have been set up for the financial system to offer mortgages, with an initial push from public banks and then private banks.
However, despite the uptick, systemic hurdles persist. Argentina’s mortgage market still represents less than 1% of GDP–far below Chile’s 30% or Brazil’s 10-15%–and decades of economic trauma linger. Even now, most real estate transactions involve cash-filled backpacks, with only the wealthiest 9-10% able to buy homes outright.
While public lenders like Banco Hipotecario reported 60,000 inquiries after launching mortgage products in April 2024, only nine loans were finalised, a figure hailed as progress in a market where “there were no mortgage loans at all.”
In 2024, Fabian Kon of Banco Galicia noted that inflation remains the chief deterrent.
The problem is inflation, not the mortgages. If you have 200% inflation, people get scared. [The market] could make a comeback. What does it depend on? That there really will be no inflation in Argentina for many years, that we won’t again have an explosive situation where someone who has a loan is scared of what could happen to them.
The government frames the mortgage revival as validation of Milei’s shock-therapy approach. Yet analysts warn the market’s future hinges on sustaining macroeconomic stability, a daunting task given Argentina’s history of volatility.
