Uruguay: How many people from Argentina own property in the country

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “All Punta del Este belongs to the Argentines,” or similar expressions have circulated over time, including the notion of a “secret refuge” for the River Plate neighbors who preferred to have their savings in real estate on the eastern side.

But is it really so, a feeling or reality?

Today there is a figure, defined with the best possible statistical estimates based on official records, and it marks the number of Argentine families allowed to enter Uruguay under the new legal authorization for foreigners, who until now were prevented from doing so by the restrictions imposed by the health emergency.

Uruguay’s General Directorate of Registries responded to a request for specific data on the number of Argentine owners in the country, with the caveat that the figure may be higher based on old records which do not allow a simple processing to be computed.

“A potential total of 85,620 Argentine owners of Uruguayan real estate were identified,” states the office, part of the Ministry of Education and Culture, in charge of processing real estate transactions.

“The Real Estate Property Registry System provides information on the situation by Department and Register, which is what the Law establishes, and it does not provide specific data on a search by Name of Owners,” the Registry Office clarified.

Why might there be differences in the total number of Argentines owning properties? The official explanation is that “the field corresponding to nationality is not codified, it is free text, and it is not always filled in by the registry officials at the National level.”

The entry of documents to the General Directorate of Registries “requires a Registry Qualification with identification of deeds, type of transactions, intervening parties” and therefore “the share of the intervening party may be partial or 100% of the property,” according to the state agency.

Consequently, “there is a percentage of historical registrations performed only by indexes,” information that is complemented on demand by the national office, where “the intervening parties were not entered.”

Accordingly, the DGR notes that “the information provided is approximate and is based on an inference of the identification of certain fields.”

The DGR report calculates the movements of Registration, Assignment, Succession, Condominium, with the acts corresponding to: Purchase and Sale, Donation, Exchange, Contribution, Allotment, Transfer, Division, Termination of Condominium, Succession, Prescription, Assignment and Ownership Rights.

This information was filtered by “information regarding the type of the intervening party in the selected registrations: Purchasing party, Heir, Shareholder, Acquirer, Donee, Grantor, Assignee, Grantee, Holder.”

Beyond these details, it is clear that the number of properties owned by Argentines in Uruguay amounts to almost 86,000, and as from today, September 1, these people and their families are allowed to enter Uruguay.

Meanwhile, real estate agents report an increase in demand for rentals and potential purchases by Argentines, and this is linked to some investments in Punta del Este, Montevideo and Colonia, for the construction of homes and offices, focused on potential Argentine buyers.

Expectations are high in this respect because they are not only based on inquiries, but also on the signing of contracts, and in Punta del Este this is reflected in the movement of people living in the area, as never before. This has boosted the commercial sector which finds unusual off-season demand, as well as the enrollment of children and teenagers in educational establishments.

Meanwhile, the government is contemplating measures to facilitate the entry of Argentine families who want to live in Uruguay and for entrepreneurs willing to invest.