What’s the cheapest real estate you can find in a master planned community in Central America?
2009 has been a tough year for real estate sellers in Central America. Sales volumes are down, buyers are more risk adverse and financing is tight. The one bright spot is a growing group of ‘lifestyle buyers’ looking for cheap properties and a low cost of living. Many see Central America as an affordable safe haven and a way to side-step the worst effects of an economic downturn at home.
As it’s cheap real estate these lifestyle buyers are after, we thought we’d offer up a resource that highlights the lowest priced real estate in the four property markets we follow: Nicaragua real estate, Belize real estate, Panama real estate, Costa Rica real estate.
Not surprisingly, the most affordable way into the market is by purchasing a lot or homesite. Our analysis looks at master planned communities targeting the international buyer. This means that a lot purchase comes with access to community amenities. Swimming pools, clubhouses and fitness centers are the most common. In some of the larger, resort-style communities, you’ll find golf courses, restaurants, shopping centers, racket courts, hotels and marinas.
So what’s the starting price point for lots in master planned communities?
We’ve built a ranking table to answer this question, giving the results in overall price and price/sqft for 2009. The table complements the earlier PriceRank we prepared for single family houses and condos. The columns are sortable letting you organize the list in different ways. If you want to know what amenities are offered by each real estate development, click through to the individual page for the answer. You’ll also see if the amenities are planned or completed.
A quick glance at the table shows two broad themes:
- Real estate developments located in Nicaragua tend to rank lower (i.e. are lower in price) than those in Costa Rica, with Belize and Panama falling somewhere in between. This pattern mirrors the level of maturity of the real estate markets – from emerging (Nicaragua) to middle markets (Panama and Belize) to the most mature (Costa Rica). We’ve analyzed this before by plotting ‘development curves’ to show the relative levels of each of the markets.
- Generally speaking ocean property has a premium over other locations. Master planned communities on the ocean rank higher for the most part than lake/river and pastoral locations.
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We’re continuing to sort through the data we collect, looking for the best ways to present and dig out the facts. We’d love to have your ideas and suggestions. They’ll be more price rankings to follow. We also plan a “Master Plan Completion Index” to give a sense of how far along real estate developments are with their master plan – a piece of information that savvy real estate investors should follow with care.
UPDATE 2012: Price Rank Table Currently Not Available.
Stay tuned.
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Wendy cruz
Mar 05, 2010
It is interesting to mention that the work at Ostional Guanacaste is totally related to conservation and that besides price and beauty this is a purpose to create a community at the wonderfull area of Pacific.
sell house quickly
Aug 26, 2010
This is an excellent table and definitely helps focus on the right areas for a set budget. It must have taken a while compiling the data and a thanks well deserved. I have often considered Costa Rica property investment but have also wandered on the stability of some parts of the country. Although there is great value there, i am still stuck on the fence, maybe i need to visit the place to see what the truth is.
Jack Burns
Sep 07, 2010
For those looking to really save dollars and getting the lifestyle they want in retirement you need to look at Villa Davina. New small homes at a small price. Truly affordable easy retirement living.
Cheers,
Jack
Smith Robert
Sep 24, 2010
hi This is an excellent table and definitely helps focus on the right areas for a set budge.New small homes at a small price. Truly affordable easy retirement living. am very thanks full to you
”””””’
smithrobert
Paul
Dec 02, 2010
Great site!!! How often is the data updated?
equity release
Dec 29, 2010
Since the list above is from a year ago, do you think the property prices have come down any more? Costa Rica is still a good long term buy, but i’m wandering if there is any more room for the property prices to fall?