Costa Rica Real Estate Magazine

ARTICLE | REAL ESTATE

GUANACASTE, COSTA RICA INVESTMENT ORIGINS AND UPDATE NORTH PACIFIC

Photo by Marcos García

try, welcoming 52% of all tourists com- ing to Costa Rica on vacation, in recent surveys. In the years after 2002, Guanacaste at- tracted much attention as a vaca-tion destination for its natural beauty, biodi- versity, stunning beaches, world-class surfing, tropical climate, sense of free- dom, and welcoming attitude of its peo- ple. From a base of tourists wanting va- cation home investments, the profile of Guanacaste investors has expanded to include retirees, families seeking a new experience, individuals trying a new life path, businesses serving the needs of the residential investors, global cor- porations expanding operations, hotels accommodating rising visitor volumes, healthcare providers, and Costa Rican businesses extending themselves from San Jose. Among the new businesses investing in Guanacaste are Coca- Cola, Pricemart (Costa Rica’s Costco), and international hotel and air cargo compa-nies.

Even with the significant blow tak-en by international investors in the Global Financial Crisis (2007-2008), and the related damage to worldwide real es- tate values, Guanacaste has sta-bilized and resumed its upward devel-opment trajectory to such a point that currently available inventories of homes, condo- miniums, and hotels, in certain popular areas has dwindled to almost nothing, and real estate prices have re-sumed a slow, steady upward trend. The real es- tate and development en-vironments in Guanacaste have also benefitted from a combination of sev-eral factors, and the long-term expecta-tions are for sus- tainable growth and sta-ble or increas- ing values. WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THESE ENVIRONMENTS? 1) The government and utilities have invested in infrastructure - Most sig- nifi-cant regional and local roads have

By now, real estate investors around the world have heard of the Guana- caste Province of Costa Rica, as a di- verse and growing opportunity. Since its emergence as an international destination with the arrival of the first US-based commercial airline flights to its own international airport at Liberia in December, 2002, Guanacaste has grown into the second most impor-tant economic engine in Costa Rica (af-ter San Jose, the capital), and the most im- portant tourist destination in the coun- By Allen Lungo President, Costa Rica Global Association of REALTORS

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