Chile's house prices up 5.04% y-o-y in Q1 2019

Chile's housing market remains robust, despite the introduction of a property sales tax in the past two years. The average price of new apartments in Greater Santiago rose by 5.04% during the year to Q1 2019, slightly lower than the previous year's 5.33% y-o-y rise. On a quarterly basis, house prices increased 1.54% in Q1 2019.

The impact of the imposition of 19% VAT on property sales by "habitual sellers" such as real estate companies is diminishing. In the first nine months of 2018, the number of home sales in Greater Santiago increased 8.7% to 25,598 units compared to the same period last year, following a 16.4% growth in 2018 – compensating for the prior year’s slump, according to the Chilean Chamber of Construction (CChC).

Rents, rental yields: moderate yields in Santiago at 4.1%

Santiago apartment costs are low at around $3,256 per sq. m. 

Chile: typical city centre apartment buying price, monthly rent (120 sq. m)
  Buying price Rate per month Yield
Santiago $390,720 $1,336 4.1%

Recent news. Chile’s economy grew by 1.6% in Q1 2019 from a year earlier, a slowdown from y-o-y expansions of 3.6% in Q4 2018, 2.6% in Q3, 5.3% in Q2 and 4.7% in Q1, as mining, fishing and agriculture shrank, according to Banco Central de Chile. The economy is projected to expand by 3.4% this year and by another 3.2% in 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund.