Press Release by The Costa Rica Star – October 25, 2015 – It’s that time of the year when leading international real estate companies such as RE/MAX begin to take account of their achievements, challenges and housing market figures since the beginning of the year. As it happens, 2015 has been an exciting year for RE/MAX in two key housing markets: the United States and Costa Rica.

The October 2015 U.S. National Housing Report indicated that the previous month of September was the best in terms of real estate activity since the dark days of the downturn. In a year-over-year basis, September 2015 improved by 6.8 percent. Accordingly, the median sales price has increased over the last 44 months.

In Costa Rica, the RE/MAX Ocean Surf and Sun in Tamarindo Beach, province of Guanacaste, reports that the situation in our country has been strongly focused on new residential development during 2015. A July report by the Costa Rica Chamber of Construction indicated that nearly 55 percent of all permits were being awarded to gated communities, single-family homes, condominium towers, and low-rise apartment buildings. This statistic does not include government-sponsored housing activity, which is estimated to complete 5,000 housing units between now and August of next year.

The RE/MAX Ocean Surf and Sun office covers the regional housing market from Playa Danta down to Playa Marbella; these beach towns are part of what is known as Costa Rica’s Gold Coast, which covers most of the communities near the Pacific Ocean.

Another sign of the strong interest in real estate in Costa Rica this year was revealed by Internet cost analytics firm Fixr.com, which in April 2015 issued an interesting report on “cost obsessions around the world.” Using Google’s autocomplete feature, the data analysts at Fixr.com explained that residential real estate values were the most active cost-related queries in Costa Rica.

A September blog post by franchise co-owner Isabelle Emond summed up the sentiment by most foreign house hunters who arrive in Costa Rica these days:

They are looking for a place TO MOVE. Why? Because life is good here! We have an International School within 15 minutes from Tamarindo with very good education, good weather 12 months per year, organic farms around town, almost zero pollution, and a big expat community where everybody shares the same taste for a tropical lifestyle at the beach! We also pay only between 10-30% taxes on income (10% on the first US$100,000), which is much lower than all other countries. People are moving abroad, and they are coming to Costa Rica!
Some decide not to rent or stay for a long time; they just come to look at properties and to have a good time in Costa Rica. No need for a booking in advance, you can just book a last minute flight and be home the day after! (that’s one of the main reasons why I bought my house!)