Most Expensive Neighborhoods in Brasília
Just like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brasília is one of the most expensive cities to live in in Brazil. This article will outline the most expensive neighborhoods in Brasília, and why they are so prestigious.
Brasília may not be the main Brazilian city in terms of economy, such as São Paulo, and neither the most known Brazilian postcard, like Rio, but this city is the one with the higher square meter (sq.m.) price, according to a research published in August of 2013.
The research was developed by the real estate portal, Agente Imóvel, and analyzed twelve capitals in Brazil, placing Brasília in the first position of the ranking, with the highest sq.m. value, an average of BRL 9,098.00.
The city was followed by Rio, BRL 8,158.00, and São Paulo, BRL 6,921.00 . While Florianópolis appeared at the end of the ranking, with a sq.m. inferior to BRL 5,000.00 .
Why Brasília is so Expensive?
The hyperinflationary Brasília’s sq.m. value can be explained, the city is not only the capital of the country and the headquarter of the Brazilian Government since 1960, but its construction was completely planned and developed by the architects Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer.
In 1956, its construction began, aiming the transference of the Brazilian capital from Rio de Janeiro to a more central position of the territory, along the Brazilian Highlands on the country’s Central-West region. Brasília not only ought to populate this uninhabited land, but was created to be the most modern, architectural, and urban city of the world.
Costa and Niemeyer have found such a perfect harmony between forms and spaces in the city architecture, that nowadays, it is considered by the UN as a patrimony of humanity. Built in the shape of an airplane, Brasília is subdivided into axes:
- Monumental Axis: government buildings were located together with the main civic monuments.
- Residential Axis: residences and commercial areas were placed.
Accommodation as a Problem
Without any doubt, accommodation is one of the most problematic topics in Brasília, and a topic that reveals the social inequality that exists in these cities. The prices for residences are so high that the so-called satellite cities have started to form around Brasília. Some of them are very poor and provides low cost workforce for the city center, while others are getting increased value with time. Despite the satellites cities, Brasília is also composed by Administrative Regions, the RA’s, city districts equivalent to neighborhoods.
Lago Sul
Lago Sul (South Lake) is formed by a main boulevard with posts and stores in its extension, and with houses arranged in squares: Quadras do Lago (QL) and Quadras Internas (QI). Each square is composed of many streets, numbered sequentially, identified as Conjuntos. Aside from the Conjuntos, there are also private condo complexes.
There are no residential buildings in Lago Sul, all residences are individual houses, restricted to up to three floors. Even the small centers of commerce, the several private and public schools and clinics comprising the neighborhood, are limited to a certain number of floors in order to maintain the nice appearance of Lago Sul.
With one of the highest per capita incomes in the Federal District, and along with North Lake which has the second largest number of pools per capita in the world, the neighborhood is an administrative region of the Class AAA, the upper class.
- Average Price of the Property: BRL 3,299,541.51.
Park Way
The region that composed Park Way nowadays began to be inhabited after the construction of Brasilia and the formation of the federal capital. In the 1990s, the Park Way became a good option for medium class citizens and particularly for those who were keen to live in good-sized houses and lots with an area of 2500 square meters.
The contact with nature, silence, freedom, and easy access to all Federal District parts are also positive factors of this neighborhood. However, with time and its rapid growth, real estate speculation was not accompanied by government investment in infrastructure and public services. Today, the lack of security and environmental degradation are a major concern of this administrative region.
Even though the place confronts these problems, it's still a privileged location comprised mainly by horizontal condominiums, large mansions, homes, and a proximity to major shopping centers in Brasília and the Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport.
- Average Price of the Property: BRL 1,790,476.19.
Lago Norte
Having as its original name Península Norte, the Lago Norte (North Lake) had his name changed due to the existence of the its equivalent: the South Lake. The neighborhood is a peninsula bordered by Lake Paranoá, artificially created to soften the dry climate of the region, and a place known by its large mansions.
Lago Norte is located in the north of the Pilot Plan and is composed mainly by residential homes, even though there are also small areas of commerce such as the Iguatemi mall and Deck Norte, and 4-floors residential buildings.
The structure is almost identical to Lago Sul, presenting a similar main boulevard with posts and stores in its extension and with houses arranged in groups and blocks. There’s also a more distant part of the neighborhood, along the road that connects it to Paranoá and South Lake, named as Mansões do Lago (Lake mansions).
- Average Price of the Property: BRL 1,428,474.30.
Setor Sudoeste
The administrative area was created in 2004 by the then governor of the Federal District, Joaquim Roriz, originally from areas of the administrative region of Cruzeiro. Sudoeste (Southwest) comprises two distinct areas: Southwest Sector and Area South Octagonal.
It is one of the prime locations of the Federal District of Brasilia, and very close to one of the main areas of outdoor recreation in the Federal District, the Sarah Kubitschek City Park. Because it's inserted into the World Heritage Site area, it has high residential prices.
- Average Price of the Property: BRL 1,068,040.41.
The Plane Wings of Brasília
The urban project of Brasília construction was named as Plano Piloto (Pilot Plan). Developed by Costa, the plan sets the shape of Brasília as an airplane, as it was said before. The airplane wings received one name each: Asa Norte (North Wing) and Asa Sul (South Wing). Both are considered two of the most noble areas of the city center, and very expensive neighborhoods to live in.
The Wings are cut by Eixão, a huge road axis, by an express route with six roads and by Eixinhos W and L (Axis west and east). Besides the transportation facilities, the neighborhoods comprise the largest residential and commercial structures of Brasília: the super squares.
The concept of super square is an open public residential extension, an opposition to the "condo" concept, that is closed and have private areas. It was created by Costa and Niemeyer and occupies the whole extension of both wings. The residential buildings are different from South to North Wing. In Asa Sul, the oldest buildings can be found, while in Asa Norte the predominance of new constructions is larger.
- Average Price of the Property in Asa Sul: BRL 1,057,279.28
- Average Price of the Property in Asa Norte: BRL 1,003,293.16.
Setor Noroeste
The Setor Noroeste (Northwest Sector) is a residential sector Brasília, designed by architect and urbanist Lúcio Costa in his project titled Brasilia Revisited 1985/1987. It is the last housing sector to be built in the tumbled area of the city, since it's a historical and cultural World Heritage Site. The neighborhood has the most expensive square meter of Brasília and has many real estate projects in development for the next years.
- Average Price of the Property: BRL 904,377.94.