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Buenos Aires / Costs / Furnished vs Unfurnished

Furnished or unfurnished?

Unfurnished rent is 26% cheaper. Then you spend $2,103 on furniture, 138 hours shopping and assembling, and discover the building fees are not included. The question is not which looks cheaper; it is at what stay length the crossover flips.

All prices in USD.

10 months
The point where a one-bedroom unfurnished, fully furnished by you, starts costing less than a temporary furnished rental in Buenos Aires.
Four realistic paths, four price bands
City-wide monthly prices for a one-bedroom, trimmed to the 10th-75th percentile. Ranges reflect real spread, not marketing numbers.

Airbnb

$1024-$1465/mo
n=12,582
All-inclusive nightly price × 30. Utilities, cleaning, fees bundled. The reference point most expats start from.

Temporary furnished direct

$893-$1199/mo
n=3,197
Argentine portals (Argenprop, Zonaprop, MercadoLibre). Dollar-priced, up to 6 months, no guarantee required. Expat default.

Long-term furnished

$854-$1230/mo
n=3,517
24-month peso contract with furniture included. Cheaper monthly but needs a guarantee and locks you in.

Long-term unfurnished

$557-$733/mo
n=19,846
24-month peso contract, bring your own everything. Lowest rent on paper. Highest setup cost in practice.

The long-unfurnished path looks 26% cheaper than temp-furnished. Whether that gap holds up depends on how long you stay.

Based on 117,078 verified listings from Airbnb, Argenprop, Zonaprop, and MercadoLibre.
The crossover point
Cumulative total cost over different stay lengths. Unfurnished includes furniture, kitchen stock, guarantee, stamp tax, deposit risk, cleaning, and fumigation.
3 months6 months12 months24 months
Airbnb (all-in) $3,705$7,410$14,820$29,640
Temp furnished + move-in $3,444$6,507$12,633$24,885
Unfurnished + full setup $5,469$7,377$11,193$18,825
vs Temp furnished +$2,025 +$870 −$1,440 −$6,060

Below 10 months, unfurnished is a losing bet: the $2,103 furniture cost plus the lump-sum guarantee do not amortize fast enough. Temp furnished wins even though the advertised rent is higher.

Above 10 months, the monthly rent gap catches up with the one-time costs. By month 24, unfurnished beats every other option, but only if you actually stay that long and recover 12% of the furniture on exit.

Does not include search time (~15-20 hours for direct, ~160 hours for unfurnished including furnishing).
What you do not see until month one
The cost of an unfurnished one-bedroom decomposed. Rent is the bar most renters see. Everything below is the iceberg.
Monthly rent (advertised)
$555
Building fees
$104
Utilities (Abl, Edesur, Metrogas)
$77
Guarantee (amortized on 24-mo contract)
$89
Furniture (amortized on 12-mo stay)
$175
Kitchen supplies (one-time)
$14
Setup time (138 hours active, at median BA income)
$172
Expected deposit loss (30% × one month)
$14
Total
$1,200

The $717 advertised rent becomes $1,200 once every real cost is included. Most comparison sites stop at the first line.

Based on 117,078 verified listings from Airbnb, Argenprop, Zonaprop, and MercadoLibre.
When unfurnished actually wins
The crossover table assumes you buy everything new at BA prices. Three scenarios change the arithmetic.

You stay 18 months or longer

The furniture amortizes over more months. A 24-month stay drops the monthly furnishing cost from $162 to $81 and flips the math decisively. Families on multi-year assignments sit firmly in this column.

You buy from a leaving expat

Expats leaving Argentina typically sell furniture at 50% of MercadoLibre prices because they cannot take it with them. Pre-assembled, pre-delivered, already in BA. The Buenos Aires Expats forum and Russian-language Telegram groups are the main supply channels. Cuts the upfront cost to around $800 and the setup time to 20 hours.

The unit comes with unusual extras

Some unfurnished listings in Buenos Aires still include built-in wardrobes, a kitchen with hood and oven, light fixtures, and occasionally appliances. Always ask before assuming a unit is stripped bare. The fact extractor flags these features on every listing detail page.

How the $2,103 figure was built
Itemized cost of furnishing a one-bedroom in Buenos Aires from scratch. Prices verified April 2026, blue rate 1,400 ARS/USD, 3 sellers each.

Items (purchased new)

  • Bed (mattress + base, 2 plazas) $650 D'Ricco, Planeta Descanso, MercadoLibre
  • Sofa (2-seater) $236 eMuebles, Living Factory
  • Wardrobe (2-4 door) $215 Megatone, Factory Muebles
  • Dining table + 4 chairs $211 Frávega, Megatone
  • Small furniture and fixtures $186 Hangers, organisers, small appliances, fixtures
  • Kitchen basics (cookware, cutlery, dishes) $164 Bazar al Cubo, Tramontina, The Voor Store
  • Curtains (3 windows) $148 Pintos Hogar
  • Sheets (2 sets) $45 OnLineTextil
  • Towels (2 sets) $17 Tienda Espalma
  • Pillows (pair) $14 MercadoLibre
  • Subtotal $1886

Hidden costs (not optional)

  • Delivery fees $80 3-4 separate deliveries
  • Assembly labor $55 Armador for wardrobe + bed, or 4-6 DIY hours
  • Transport to stores $25 Uber/metro to showrooms
  • Unexpected extras $45 Missing parts, wrong sizes, power strips
  • Tips $12 Delivery crews, standard practice
  • Total 1-bedroom furnishing cost $2103

Time cost: 138 hours of active research, shopping, coordination, and assembly. Based on ATUS 2024, Allied Van Lines 2024, hotukdeals flat-pack stress index, AllProsAssemble 2026, and the 1.3× language multiplier for non-Spanish speakers.

Resale recovery: 12% of durable items (bed, table). Based on the Buenos Aires Expats for-sale threads, where leaving expats typically price used furniture at 50% of MercadoLibre and accept 20-30% of that after haggling and delivery logistics.

Sources: D'Ricco, Planeta Descanso, Megatone, Factory Muebles, eMuebles, Living Factory, Fravega, Bazar al Cubo, Tramontina, The Voor Store, OnLineTextil, Tienda Espalma, Pintos Hogar, MercadoLibre. Last verified by Unitrank in April 2026.

FAQ
At what stay length does unfurnished become cheaper than furnished?+
Roughly 10 months for a one-bedroom in Buenos Aires. Below that, the $2,103 furniture cost plus the lump-sum caución (guarantee) and the 30% deposit-loss risk do not amortize fast enough to beat a temporary furnished rental. Above it, the monthly rent gap takes over. The exact crossover shifts by bedroom count and neighborhood.
What does the $2,103 furnishing cost actually cover?+
A bed with base, a wardrobe, a sofa, a dining table and chairs, curtains, sheets, towels, pillows, a basic kitchen (cookware, cutlery, dishes), and an allowance for small items (hangers, organizers, fixtures). Plus $217 in hidden costs: delivery fees for separate purchases, assembly labor or time, transport to showrooms, tips, and unexpected extras. The full itemization is in the methodology section.
Can I skip the guarantee (caución) on an unfurnished contract?+
Rarely. A standard 24-month unfurnished contract in Buenos Aires requires either a seguro de caución (3-8% of total contract value) or a propietario-propietario guarantee (an owner of another property acting as guarantor). Temporary furnished contracts under 6 months are exempt. This asymmetry is a big part of why unfurnished takes 10 months to break even.
How much of the furniture can I resell when I leave?+
10-15% of the durable items' retail value, and only if you have the time and Spanish to coordinate it. Leaving expats list on MercadoLibre and the Buenos Aires Expats forum at half of new retail, then accept another 40-50% haircut on the actual sale price after buyers bargain and factor in delivery logistics. Most give up and donate.
Is it worth buying from a leaving expat instead of buying new?+
For most budgets, yes. Expats selling at 50% of MercadoLibre prices cut your upfront cost from $2,103 to $700-900, and the items are already assembled and delivered in Buenos Aires. The trade-off is timing: you need to arrive while someone is leaving, in your neighborhood, with items that fit your apartment. The Buenos Aires Expats forum and Russian-language Telegram groups are the main supply channels.
Why do setup time costs matter if I am not paying for labor myself?+
Time is never free. The engine converts setup hours to a money-equivalent using your income. At the Buenos Aires median effective hourly rate, 138 hours of active shopping, coordinating deliveries, and assembling furniture translates to around $2,070 of opportunity cost: money you could have earned, rested, or spent on something else. For higher incomes the number is larger. This is why the crossover is later than a pure dollar comparison would suggest.

The honest summary

For most expats on a six-month assignment in a one-bedroom, arriving without furniture, temporary furnished is still the correct answer. The math only flips if your stay is long, your furniture budget is low, or you can buy someone else's leftovers. The advertised rent is the beginning of the cost, not the end.

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