The Journal

Buying and owning property in Rio.

Practical, picture-led guides for the foreign buyer. We sell apartments and villas in the city's best neighborhoods and run them as short-stay rentals when owners are away — so everything here comes from deals we've actually closed and guests we've actually hosted.

Christ the Redeemer above Rio de Janeiro, Sugarloaf and Guanabara Bay beyond
Start here · The Pillar Guide · 18-min read

The Foreign Buyer's Complete Guide to Rio de Janeiro Real Estate

The CPF, the bank account, the six neighborhoods that matter, the closing process, the taxes nobody warns you about, and a 90-day checklist you can actually tick off. Everything a buyer in New York, London or Lisbon needs before the first viewing.

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Aerial of Copacabana beach and the dense apartment line of Rio de Janeiro's South Zone
Comparison · New York · 18-min read

New York vs Rio: Manhattan money, Ipanema address

For the price of a competent Manhattan one-bedroom, the beach in Ipanema. The side-by-side a New York buyer actually needs — price per square foot, yield, two-country tax, the overnight flight with no jet lag, residency and the exit.

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A modernist Niemeyer-era apartment building in Rio de Janeiro against the sky
Comparison · Paris · 18-min read

Paris vs Rio: where should the European buyer put the money?

The euros that buy a civilised two-bedroom in the sixth buy a three-bedroom on the beach in Ipanema. The side-by-side a Parisian needs — price per m², yield, the IFI wealth tax, notaire fees, the flight, and a foothold outside the EU.

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Leblon and Ipanema seen from Dois Irmãos mountain at dusk, the beach curving toward the city
Comparison · London · 18-min read

London vs Rio: the UK buyer's honest comparison

Prime-central London is four to seven times Ipanema per square foot — and taxes the buying and the holding harder than any city I compare. The side-by-side a British buyer needs, including the stamp-duty wall and the end of non-dom.

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Praia da Joatinga, a hidden cliff-backed surf beach in Rio de Janeiro
Comparison · Los Angeles · 18-min read

Los Angeles vs Rio: two beach cities, one honest comparison

For a Californian, Rio is the most familiar foreign city on earth — surf, mountains meeting sea, an outdoor life. The side-by-side on price, yield, the fire-and-insurance risk ledger, tax and the flight.

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Pedra da Gávea towering over São Conrado and the Atlantic in Rio de Janeiro
Comparison · Miami · 17-min read

Miami vs Rio: the Florida buyer's honest comparison

Miami is the American city most like Rio — and the one whose buyers ask me most. The side-by-side on price, yield, the hurricane-insurance-and-assessment ledger, Florida's no-state-tax win, and the eight-and-a-half-hour nonstop.

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Leblon beach at golden hour, calm sea and the apartment line of Rio's most expensive neighbourhood
Comparison · New York · 17-min read

Rio vs the Hamptons: the second-home math for a New York buyer

The Hamptons gives a New Yorker the summer they already have. Rio gives them the winter they're missing — alive in January, cheap to hold, earning all year, with a second passport attached. The second-home comparison nobody runs.

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Pedra da Gávea, the vast granite peak above Rio de Janeiro's coastline
Comparison · San Francisco · 18-min read

San Francisco vs Rio: the tech-wealth buyer's comparison

For a balance sheet that's a stack of correlated tech bets, an income-producing apartment in an unrelated economy and currency is a rebalancing, not an indulgence. The memo on price, yield, diversification, tax and working from the terrace.

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A Brazilian CPF taxpayer card and a passport laid out on a desk for a foreign property purchase
Buying · For New Yorkers · 17-min read

The New Yorker's guide to buying an apartment in Rio

You've decided the idea is real; now the operational playbook. The two documents that start everything, where a New Yorker should actually look, moving the money so it comes home, the closing, the taxes, and how to run it from New York.

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A desk with foreign-exchange paperwork, a calculator and a pen for moving money between countries
Buying · For US Buyers · 18-min read

The American buyer's guide to Rio: the IRS and the money home

America taxes you on worldwide income and has no tax treaty with Brazil — and it's still entirely manageable. The foreign tax credit, FBAR and FATCA without the fear, and the registration that lets your money come home.

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A desk arranged with rental-income statements, a laptop and a calculator for foreign property income
Buying · For UK Buyers · 17-min read

The London buyer's guide to Rio: pounds, UK tax and the process

How a person who banks in pounds and files a Self Assessment actually buys in Rio — moving sterling so it comes home, the UK tax after non-dom, the stamp duty you don't pay, and the whole closing.

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A calm, well-appointed serviced apartment bedroom in Rio de Janeiro at soft light
Buying · For California · 17-min read

The California buyer's guide to Rio

The highest state tax in the country, an insurance market in crisis, and the freedom to work anywhere. How a Californian actually buys and owns in Rio — the state-tax layer, the money, the process, and working from the terrace.

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The staffed lobby and doorman desk of a luxury residential building in Rio de Janeiro
Buying · For the Midwest · 17-min read

The Chicago & Midwest buyer's guide to Rio

A Chicagoan isn't escaping crazy prices, so the case is different: the yield you can't get at home, the winter you'd pay anything to escape, and a hard asset that diversifies a Midwestern balance sheet. No hype, just the numbers and the process.

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The facade of a classic Carioca apartment building in Rio de Janeiro's South Zone
Market · New York · 17-min read

Why New York money is buying Rio in 2026

More of my buyers come from New York than anywhere else, and it isn't a coincidence. A generational currency window, a yield-starved home market, an overnight flight with no jet lag, and a second-passport option — the anatomy of a trend.

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Three passports stacked at angles on a dark walnut desk with a brass desk globe
Market · Europe · 18-min read

Why European buyers are choosing Rio in 2026

A strong euro and pound, a continent that has taxed and regulated its property yield into the ground, and a growing appetite for a foothold outside the EU. Why capital from Paris, London, Lisbon and Milan is landing in Rio.

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A long pale-oak desk with framed architectural prints and a leather portfolio open in the foreground
Playbook · Transatlantic · 18-min read

The transatlantic buyer's 2026 playbook

American money led by New York, European money led by Paris and London, converging on one city. What they share, where they differ, a decision framework for which buyer you are, and the one common playbook for starting.

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Ipanema and Leblon beaches at dusk, Two Brothers mountain beyond
Neighborhoods · 16-min read

Copacabana vs Ipanema vs Leblon: where should you actually live?

Three beaches, three personalities, three very different addresses to wake up at — compared properly on price per square metre, doorman culture, restaurants and English fluency.

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Rio de Janeiro skyline with Sugarloaf Mountain and Botafogo bay
Market · Data · 15-min read

Why 2026 is the year Americans, Europeans and Brits are buying Rio

The currency, the digital-nomad visa, the flight-to-lifestyle and the per-square-metre maths that finally adds up — with numbers you can toggle between USD, EUR, GBP and BRL.

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São Conrado: rainforest, golf course, gated beach and cliff villas
Photo Essay · 17-min read

The Other Rio: Joá, São Conrado and the quiet side of luxury

Five minutes south of Leblon there is a corridor most travel guides skip: cliff villas, a private gated beach, a golf course in the rainforest. A photo essay with an interactive map.

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Aerial of Copacabana beach and the Copacabana fort, Rio de Janeiro
Legal · Q&A · 14-min read

Yes, you can own beachfront in Rio: the legal walk-through

The myth says foreigners can't own near the water. The truth is more interesting — mostly fine, with two rules to know and one place where it isn't, plus a live closing-cost calculator.

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A Rio apartment terrace dressed for a short-stay guest at golden hour
Investment · Data · 19-min read

What a Rio apartment actually earns: the rental-yield guide

Gross short-stay yield by neighborhood, the costs that quietly halve the headline, and the unglamorous list of what we'd actually buy for income today. The number to plan around is the net.

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Brazilian real banknotes, a calculator, a house key and a floor plan
Costs · 19-min read

The real cost of buying in Rio: every fee, tax and line item

The sticker price is not the price. Every cost between the agreed number and the keys — ITBI, notary, registry, lawyer, money movement — in the order it leaves your account.

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A staged Rio living room with bay view, ready for buyer viewings
Selling · 17-min read

Selling your Rio apartment: the foreign owner's exit guide

How a Rio sale works from the owner's chair, the capital-gains maths in reais, and the single Central Bank registration — done the day you bought — that decides whether the money comes home cleanly or becomes a project.

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A tan leather portfolio open on a pale travertine surface with abstract column graphs and a small line chart
Investing · Data · 18-min read

The 10-year math: what a Rio apartment actually returns

Annual yield is a snapshot. The ten-year picture is a different conversation — rent compounded, BRL appreciation, currency, IRR sensitivity and three honest scenarios from owners on my book.

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Downtown Miami and Brickell skyline across the bay
Investing · Comparison · 18-min read

Rio vs Lisbon vs Miami: where should the foreign buyer put the money?

Three coastlines, three currencies, three very different markets. The side-by-side a foreign buyer with a one-and-a-half-million-dollar budget actually needs — price, yield, tax, residency, exit, lived experience.

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A leather portfolio open to an abstract tax-form layout on a green desk pad, with a fountain pen and brass calculator
Tax · 17-min read

Taxes for the foreign owner of a Rio apartment

Every Brazilian tax line a non-resident owner actually pays — at purchase, during ownership, on rental income, on sale and back home. No fearmongering, just the rates, the filing windows and the four mistakes to avoid.

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Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas at evening with Christ the Redeemer beyond
Living in Rio · 17-min read

Safety in Rio: an honest guide for the foreign buyer

Not the headline version and not the brochure version. What an experienced local broker actually believes about safety in the neighborhoods our clients buy in — geography, the building, daily habits, three real owner scenarios.

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A renovation moodboard on a travertine surface with linen, stone, tile chips and a brass cabinet pull
Renovating · 18-min read

Renovating a Rio apartment as a foreign owner

Building rules, three scopes, realistic R$ per square metre, the schedule Rio actually keeps, the team you need and four mistakes that destroy a foreign-owner renovation. Written for the owner who is six time zones away.

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