Brazil: Penthouses are the most disputed properties in São Paulo

By Marcelo Alcântara

“The apartment is wonderful, but it will be hard to sell”.

I remember hearing this sentence a few times during my adolescence, in the 90s, when I was following the work of Gisela, my mother, a real estate agent of a high standard in São Paulo.

She was referring to penthouses, especially in the Jardins.

In Rio de Janeiro, living on the top floor of a building on the avenues Vieira Solto, Delfim Moreira, or Epitácio Pessoa was always a guarantee of a privileged view of the sea or the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon and of having a private pool in a city with sun and heat practically all year round.

Differently from the capital of Rio de Janeiro, in São Paulo City, the penthouses were seen as a certainty of water infiltrations and higher maintenance and condominium costs.

This reality has now changed with the modernization of condominium services and the evolution of construction processes that have solved issues that used to cause headaches for penthouse owners.

But it seems that the game has changed. In fact, it has been changing over the last few years.

Today the high-standard penthouses in São Paulo City, depending on the neighborhood, the plant, and the building, have a higher square meter value than the standard apartments in the same condominium.

A penthouse in Vila Nova Conceição, with a view to Ibirapuera Park, has a higher demand for buyers than units for sale.

And this is due to changes in how people live and how this type of property is thought of, and even as a reflection of the pandemic.

From the late 1990s to mid-2012, the São Paulo real estate market saw the largest number of apartment launchings since the economic miracle of the 1960s and early 1970s.

Neighborhoods where houses predominated – Perdizes, Moema, Vila Nova Conceição, Alto de Pinheiros, Vila Olímpia, and even Vila Mariana and Paraíso – were taken over by buildings.

The increasing density brought more people to these regions, making the neighborhoods livelier, with more services and options for work and leisure.

It also brought about a new look for penthouses, which started to be seen as a good option by those exchanging a large and comfortable house for an apartment.

Furthermore, the inaugurations of Parque Villa Lobos in 1994 and Parque do Povo in 2008 expanded the landscape options previously concentrated in Ibirapuera.

Penthouses had fallen in the taste of those who live in São Paulo. But the market still needed to keep up with this behavior change.

At the end of the 2000s, penthouses started to arrive in São Paulo in larger volumes. Common in New York since the 1920s, there were a few here and there, with a floor plan specially designed for the building, taking into account the view, the position of the sun, and the characteristics of the neighborhood and potential residents.

A large open-air area, swimming pool, private elevator to access the top from the floor below, privacy, luxury design, and ample space for circulation are characteristics of this property model.

In other words: those looking for a penthouse want a unique property, not a double floor plan.

Today there is a good supply of penthouses of this type in São Paulo, with values that range from R$2 million (US$378,000) to launches that reach R$45 million or ready-to-suit properties of up to R$65 million.

The average ticket of these properties has increased from R$3.5 million in 2019 to R$7 million in 2022.

In short: more usable area, privacy, luminosity, and an open view where the sky can be appreciated without barriers for the eyes. A place closer to heaven, exclusive, just yours.

Marcelo Alcântara has a degree in business administration. Managing partner of Esquema Imóveis, a high-end real estate brand in São Paulo, and founding partner of Innova Gestão de Propriedades.

With information from Forbes