Jardim Europa and its neighbor Itaim Bibi are regarded as some of the most sought-after residential areas in Brazil’s Sao Paulo, which is home to more than 12 million people.
Jardim Europa is one of the four communities in Jardins, an upper-class neighborhood built on an area of dense forest whose name, which means "gardens" in Portuguese, refers to its abundance of tropical greenery.
Founded in the 1930s, and a choice spot of Sao Paulo’s wealthy elite, Jardim Europa has an abundance of modern and contemporary mansions set in lush tropical gardens with swimming pools.
Thriving, upscale and buzzing, with a trendy bar and restaurant scene, Itaim Bibi includes Brigadeiro Faria Lima Avenue, an important financial and commercial center, which has made it popular with wealthy, young professionals.
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A magnet for homeowners, renters and investors alike, the area is seeing the fastest property price growth in Sao Paulo over the past five years, which, according to the estate agency Bossa Nova Sotheby’s International Realty in Jardim Europa, is due to rising levels of demand and a dwindling inventory.
A home in Itaim Bibi costing between BRL7,000 (US$1,996) per square meter in 2013 would now cost BRL$10,000 (US$2,870) per square meter, representing an increase of 42%, said Patricia Dias, of Bossa Nova Sotheby’s International Realty.
Boundaries
Lying directly north of Itaim Bibi, Jardim Europa’s southern border is Nove de Julho Avenue and it goes as far as Groenlandia Street to the east and as far as Brigadeiro Faria Lima Avenue to the west. Alameda Gabriel Monteiro da Silva is its northern edge.
Nove de Julho Avenue and Avenida Cidade Jardim form Itaim Bibi’s northern edge. Santo Amaro Avenue is on its eastern edge and the Marginal Pinheiros by the Pinheiros River is on its west border. Its southern boundary is Helio Pellegrino Avenue.
Price Range
Jardim Europa is the city’s most expensive residential area, according to Ms. Dias.
The area’s older single homes are increasingly being sold as building plots. The average price of a building plot is BRL10,000 (US$2,870) per square meter. For a newly constructed home, buyers pay on average of BRL 30,000 (US$8,637) per square meter.
The average price of a building plot is BRL10,000 per square meter and construction costs per square meter range from BRL 2,000 (US$574) to BLR 10,000, said Luiza Cazarin, partner at Axpe Imoveis Especiais, an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate in Jardim Europa.
Prices in Itaim Bibi vary according to factors such as the building, street, year of construction and finishes, but an apartment can go from BRL10,000 per square meter to BRL15,000 (US$4,304) per square meter, Ms. Cazarin said. Apartments in new developments, meanwhile, cost an average of BRL22,000 (US$6,313) per square meter.
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Housing Stock
Jardim Europa has single-family houses and the vast majority of them date from the 1950s and 1960s.
The neighborhood is seeing an increase in the number of individually-designed contemporary homes. Picture streamlined architecture with an abundance of glazing and timber, high ceilings and landscaped gardens.
Itaim Bibi, meanwhile, only has apartments. Most buildings were constructed in the 1950s and onwards, but new developments are continually being built, according to Ms. Cazarin.
What Makes it Unique
Jardim Europa is an elegant residential area, with tree-lined streets and mansions.. Its houses are highly prized for the privacy and tranquillity they provide in such a busy city, Ms. Cazarin said.
Itaim Bibi is a bustling, mixed-use area, with small office buildings, as well as large headquarters of banks, including Deutsche Bank, USB, Banco Caixa Geral Brasil and the government-owned Caixa Economica Federal, tech giants such as Yahoo, Twitter and Google as well as Unilever.
Ms. Cazarin said that the area offers a "good quality of life" because it has a mix of live, work and play. It has the green spaces of the People’s Park, urban amenities such as health clubs and residents have the opportunity to walk or cycle to work and avoid traffic congestion, which is a huge problem in the city.
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Luxury Amenities
Considered one of the city’s best sports clubs, Jardim Europa’s Harmony Tennis Society was founded in 1930. Itaim-Bibi has the Pinheiros sports club, while nearby Paulistano athletic club, a multi-sports and social club, offers a wide range of sporting activities.
High-end fashion by international and Brazilian designers and design brands can be found at Jardim Europa’s Iguatemi Sao Paulo and Itam-Bibi’s upmarket JK Iguatemi shopping malls. The latter is notable for its restaurants and cinema complex.
As previously mentioned, Itaim-Bibi has an excellent restaurant scene. Hotspots include La Tambouille, a fusion French-Italian restaurant; Parigi, which has French-Italian dishes; and Restaurant Kitchin, a Japanese sushi restaurant sushi. Jardim Europa, meanwhile, has Nino Cucina & Vino, an elegant Italian eatery.
Itaim-Bibi’s bar scene includes Bar Café Society; Banana Café, which has cocktails, late-night food and gardens and trees; and Bar Passa. Just outside of Jardim-Europa and Itaim-Bibi, Hotel Unique has the excellent Skye Bar.
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One of the nearest top schools is St. Paul’s in Jardim Paulistano, which neighbors Jardim Europa. It’s a bilingual, co-educational British school for students aged 3 to 18 that offers an International Baccalaureate program.
There’s also Saint Nicholas in Pinheiros, which lies north of Jardim Paulistano, and is an international school for pupils aged 18 months to 18 years, and St. Francis College, an international school for Brazilian and foreign students age 2 to 18 that offers International Baccalaureate programs, which has campuses in Pinheiros and Jardim Europa.
Who Lives There
Jardim Europa’s community is made up of old-money families, manufacturing entrepreneurs, CEOs of major companies, business owners, executives and renowned architects, lawyers and doctors, as well as employees of the consulates based in the neighborhood, according to Ms. Dias and Ms. Cazarin.
Itaim-Bibi attracts families and single workers with medium- and-high ranking positions in businesses and banking and finance industries, expat executives working for multinational companies, CEOs of large companies, and professional service workers such as lawyers and doctors.
Aerial walkway and office buildings at the Itaim Bibi district of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Carlos Alkmin / Getty ImagesNotable Residents
The mayor of Sao Paulo João Doria is a resident of Jardim Europa, as is Brazil’s famous sporting legend, the footballer Ronaldo Nazário de Lima, more commonly known as Ronaldo.
Brazilian businessman Abilio Diniz, the former CEO and now chairman of the French retailer Casino Group, also has a home in Jardim Europa.
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Outlook
The real estate market experienced a 30% decrease in prices during the 2016 and 2017 recession, but the high-end sector remains fairly steady, Ms. Cazarin said. However, "although wealthy individuals did not stop buying and selling, negotiations were more intense, therefore it was tougher to close deals as the gaps between the asking and proposed prices were increasing."
"The price per square meter in the neighborhoods in which we operate has not been affected," she continued. "We can say, however, that the properties lost value due to the high inflation of over 10% in the recent downturn. The inflation is now decreasing and expectations for 2018 is to close around 3.7%."
Property market sentiment is more upbeat now that the Brazilian economy is inching out of the recession. Last year, several banks announced a gradual drop in interest rates charged in mortgage lending and the volume of available mortgage products has increased, according to Luis Fernando Boccato, of Bossa Nova Sotheby’s International Realty.
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Ms. Cazarin said that although the real estate market is recovering, it could be affected by political instability. She explained: "Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva began his prison term last month; former president Dilma Rousseff was impeached in 2016; and the current president, Michel Temer, is one of the most unpopular in Brazilian history."
"With presidential elections around the corner in October, the future is uncertain, and the market might be subjected to up and downs according to who wins," she said.