Home ownership has long been a symbol of success and prosperity around the world. In much of Latin America, particularly, the history of social conflict and revolution over the 19th-20th centuries is really the history of land reform, or how land could best be redistributed following colonial independence and the end of the Iberian plantation systems.

Yet for many people across the region and worldwide, buying a house is simply infeasible. In Colombia, only 4 out of 10 families are homeowners. So how can people hoping to invest in real estate get around the huge capital barrier?

Enter: real estate investment trusts (REITs), invented in the United States in 1960 during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. REITs own and often operate real estate properties, using investors' capital to acquire property and chase returns through capital appreciation.

Over 40 countries today have REITs, with the industry's equity market capitalization having topped $2T as of 2024. But not all REITs are created equal.

Multi-line graph comparing relative performance of publicly traded real estate funds, where Argentina's REITs significantly outperform other countries | Sources: S&P, Latinometrics
Argentina's real estate is defying gravity

Take Chile. High interest rates and weak construction sales have held back national real estate for years following COVID. Only as inflation has remained low and policy rates have decreased recently has the Chilean real estate sector recovered, demonstrating today its outperformance of even REIT indices tracked by S&P in Mexico and the US.

Then, of course, there's Argentina. While demonstrating heavy volatility following the COVID recovery (after all, Argentina may be the Spanish word for volatility), this is nothing compared to what the country has seen since the arrival of President Javier Milei.

A deep deregulation push by the Milei government, including the quick repeal of the Argentine national rent control regime, has led to soaring housing availability and a tripling of mortgages.

Meanwhile, his broader macroeconomic agenda, recent legislative victories, and successful fight against inflation have all helped to restore investor confidence and bring foreign capital to sectors such as real estate.

This combination has helped an index tracking Argentina's real estate sector to approach growth of 400% from its 2021 figures.