The price of a warehouse square metre varies more by area than by any other variable: between the most and least expensive corridor in the metropolitan area the gap is more than double. This page gathers the published reference figures, with source and date, so the comparison can be made with numbers rather than impressions. It also covers what building costs, which is the other way to add metres.
What does renting a square metre of warehouse cost?
Value space using your own rent or property opportunity cost. Released space can support growth or reorganization; it only saves rent when an actual payment obligation is reduced.
The four figures, and why they spread so far apart
The gap between the City of Buenos Aires and the Route 9 corridor is almost three times for the same square metre. What you pay extra for being closer to consumption is distribution time: fewer kilometres per round, fewer truck hours, more rounds per day. What you save by moving away gets paid back in last-mile logistics. So the right figure for your decision is not the market average but the one for the area the operation has to be in, and that area is set by the delivery pattern, not by the rent. A cheap warehouse in the wrong place can end up costing more than an expensive one in the right place.
What vacancy says about finding space
Price alone is not enough to decide: you need to know whether anything is available. Vacancy in the premium Greater Buenos Aires segment sits at 10.15%, with negative net absorption, per CBRE in the second quarter of 2026. Negative net absorption means more floor area was vacated than taken up in the period. Translated into an actual search: there is supply, but finding a building with the clear height you need, in the area you need, at the moment you need it, remains hard. The urgency of an operation that no longer fits usually ends up overpaying, or accepting a building that is not the right one.
And if you build instead of renting
A construction comparison needs more than a price per square metre. Include land, design, permits, ground conditions, structure, utilities and the time before operations can start. Racking, fire protection and services must match the intended use. Compare this investment with adapting the existing building or renting another one over the same period, including relocation and operational continuity.
The metre you are already paying for
There is a fourth figure that appears in no market report: the value of the square metre you already rent and are not using. A conventional warehouse stores on the surface and leaves most of its volume unused. Recovering it does not cost what a new metre costs: it is a one-off investment on floor area that already sits inside the rent or the building depreciation. The ceiling is multiplying what you store today with conventional racking by up to 3 times, and at the same time up to 66% of the floor is freed; how much of that your warehouse reaches is what the survey tells you.
How to use these figures without going wrong
Three warnings. The first is the date: these are second-quarter 2026 figures and the market moves, so check they are still current before using them in a decision. The second is that they are market reference values, not quotes: the real price of a specific building depends on its condition, its height, its floor, its access and the negotiation. The third is that rent is only part of the cost of occupying: service charges, security, utilities, insurance and maintenance are separate and vary a lot between buildings. Comparing two options on square metre price alone is comparing badly.
The figure that matters is your area’s, at your moment
Published figures are useful for framing the conversation and for knowing whether an offer sits within market, not for replacing a quote on a specific building. Before deciding to add metres, and before signing anything, it is worth having three things in hand: the price in the area the operation needs to be in, the vacancy in that segment, and how much unused volume sits in the current warehouse. That third figure is the only one that appears in no report, and it is the one that usually changes the decision, because the other two describe the market and this one describes your warehouse. A building with nine metres of clear height and three-level racking has room to grow; one with five metres already well used does not. The difference between those two cases shows up in no market report, and it decides whether the conversation is about renting or about rearranging. STOKA measures it at no cost.
Frequently asked questions
Value space using your own rent or property opportunity cost. Released space can support growth or reorganization; it only saves rent when an actual payment obligation is reduced.
Value space using your own rent or property opportunity cost. Released space can support growth or reorganization; it only saves rent when an actual payment obligation is reduced.
Premium vacancy sits at 10.15% with negative net absorption, per CBRE in the second quarter of 2026. There is supply, but finding the clear height, the area and the timing all at once remains hard.
Because what you pay extra for being closer to consumption is distribution time, and what you save by moving away gets paid back in last-mile logistics. Between the City of Buenos Aires and the Route 9 corridor there is almost a threefold difference for the same square metre.