Beltrán Briones, co-founder of Grupo Briones, a developer with more than ten buildings delivered in CABA, announced the launch of the first Argentine REIT, structured together with Grupo IEB, approved by the CNV and ready to be listed on BYMA under the ticker $REIT. In the United States, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have existed since 1960 and are today one of the most popular investment vehicles among small savers. In Argentina, that figure had never existed. Until now.
A REIT is, in simple terms, a fund that pools capital from multiple investors to acquire properties, put them up for rent, and periodically distribute the income generated among the participants. Unlike buying an apartment directly, the investor does not need to manage the property or spend million-dollar sums, since he accesses the real estate market as if he were buying shares on the stock market.
The fund will invest in used properties in the City of Buenos Aires that will be put up for rent, with rents distributed on a quarterly basis. The potential for profit is twofold: the appreciation of the value of the properties over time and the flow of income from rentals.
The most disruptive aspect of the instrument is its entry threshold: with just $1,000 anyone can acquire a participation in the fund, democratizing access to an asset class that historically in Argentina was reserved for those who could buy a complete property, with the deed, maintenance and management costs that this implies. The first placement is scheduled for June 10, and the following day the fund will begin trading on BYMA with the ticker $REIT, within the regulatory framework granted to it by the CNV.
Briones founded Grupo Briones at the age of 25 and has already consolidated a track record of more than ten buildings delivered in CABA, positioning itself as a leading developer in the Buenos Aires market. He also established himself as a popularizer: his book on real estate investment sold 40,000 copies in two and a half months, an exceptional figure for an area where these titles rarely exceed five thousand copies in their first year.
The accumulated inflation reduced the purchasing power of the Argentine saver and made access to housing as an investment more complex. An instrument that allows you to enter the real estate market in a fractional way and with stock market liquidity, something that a physical apartment does not offer, appears as a concrete diversification alternative.
In developed markets, REITs have decades of history: in the United States they manage assets worth more than 4 trillion dollars. The Argentine version, more modest in initial scale, replicates that logic: turning the brick into an accessible financial asset. If the instrument gains traction, it could lay the foundation for a broader ecosystem of listed real estate funds in Argentina.
by RN
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