Infrastructure Upgrades In Costa Rica Will
Improve Accessibility
By Margaret
Summerfield
In recent years, Costa Rican real estate
prices have risen rapidly as more and more
foreigners are relocating to the country.
Despite the influx of ex-pats, Costa Rica
remains a beautiful country with good
residency programs and a low cost of living.
More importantly, there are still areas of
the country which are highly affordable.
Back in 1983, International Living first
recommended Costa Rica, long before the
mainstream started to pay attention to this
small country. At that time, Costa Rica
ticked all the right boxes as a retirement
and second-home destination. It had a lush
tropical beauty…a good residency program…a
low cost of living…and best of all, it had
incredibly affordable property.
Readers who quickly acted were soon glad
they did. The mainstream media jumped on the
bandwagon, and Costa Rica jumped to the top
of the list of desirable locations for
expats (today, there’s an estimated
30,000-50,000 U.S. citizens living in Costa
Rica).
Property shoppers wanting a cooler climate
and proximity to the capital flocked to
Costa Rica’s Central Valley. Beach lovers
headed to the Pacific Gold Coast, in the
northwest of the country.
This influx of property buyers changed one
of the factors making Costa Rica so
attractive: affordable property. Prices
rose. No longer a screaming bargain, IL
switched focus to other Central American
countries.
Now something new is happening. Costa Rica
is still a beautiful country.
It still has good residency programs. The
cost of living is still low (currently lower
than Panama, where I live).
The only thing lacking is good value real
estate. Are there any pockets of Costa Rica
that had escaped the attention of the swarms
of property buyers? Yes—I recently spent
time there.
The scenery is stunning. The beaches are
pristine. It’s home to numerous parks and
reserves and is remarkably free of
high-rises and mega-resorts.
It's remained undiscovered because it was
tough to get to. You could use the tiny
rural airport...a road that crossed the
“Hill of Death”...or the coastal road, which
had whole sections without any surface and
lunar-sized craters. This lack of access
deterred everyone, apart from diehard
surfers and sport fishers.
But infrastructure upgrades are on the way.
Coastal road improvements, promised for 30
years, are finally almost complete. This
stretch of coastal road is now comfortable
to drive. That means more people will make
the trip, fall in love with this location,
and want to buy here.
The rural airport is on the way out, too.
There are plans for a new international
airport. The government has chosen the site
and allocated funds. The contract is out to
tender. The airport will push this area onto
the world stage.
So, while property prices are affordable for
now (as little as $23,000), I don’t expect
that to last long. Once more people see the
beauty of this area, and realize just how
affordable it is, they’ll want to own a
piece of it for themselves—pushing prices
up.
This article has been republished from
International Living.
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