Monthly Blog- October 2024

Ian Lawrence

This month I have been in Brazil, researching the real estate market in Brasília, Brazil's capital city. The vision for Brasília was crafted in the past when there was little understanding of the detrimental effect that gas guzzling vehicles would have on the environment. This goes some way to explain why there is a bias towards vehicle travel rather than pedestrians, which in 2024 is unusual for capital cities where more emphasis is being placed on cycling and walking. Designed by the renowned architect Oscar Niemeyer and urban planner Lúcio Costa in the late 1950s, Brasília is a UNESCO World Heritage city built from scratch, embodying bold, sweeping curves, open spaces, and a focus on modernism. Its layout resembles an airplane, with distinct “wings” and a “fuselage.” The "Plano Piloto," or pilot plan is a design that lends itself to ease of travel and it is a city that is very easy and quick to circumnavigate.

My research focus was on prime residential and office property that is generally located around the "Lago Norte and Sul" or north and south lake and "ASA Norte and Sul" north and south wing respectively with office and commercial property ordered by sector in specific zones within the north and south wing. The most expensive residential property is situated on the shores of the South Lake close to the diplomatic zone where prices for new property can reach BRL29,000 per sqm. Office rents are very low when compared to other cities with asking prices in the region of BRL 55/sqm/month.