Puerto Natales

Puerto Natales is the Patagonian gateway town to Torres del Paine National Park, set on the Señoret Channel of Last Hope Sound in Chile's far-southern Magallanes Region, with roughly 22,000 residents. Once a wool-and-salmon port, it has been reborn as a premium adventure-tourism hub and is increasingly dubbed Patagonia's new 'golden ground' as property values surge on the back of record park visitation. Torres del Paine drew an estimated 366,000-415,000 visitors in 2025, exceeding CONAF's carrying capacity, with projections toward one million by 2035, driving demand for hotels, short-let lodging and residential land. Pricing is wide: typical 70-150 m2 homes run CLP 160-300 million (about USD 165,000-310,000), central 500 m2 properties reach CLP 500m-1bn (USD 500,000-1,000,000), and luxury homes span USD 700,000-3,000,000. On a per-m2 basis central stock trades roughly USD 1,400-1,900. Gross long-let yields are modest at 3.5-4.5%, but tourism short lets command strong summer premiums despite peak-season oversupply. Central growth is projected at 2-4% annually if tourism holds. Foreigners buy with full rights and a RUT; critically, Puerto Natales lies in a southern border zone near Argentina, so under Decreto Ley 1.939 nationals of bordering countries face restrictions and DIFROL authorisation can apply to land in declared border areas, though non-bordering foreign buyers of titled urban property are generally unaffected but should confirm border-zone status before purchase.