Cóbano Real Estate, Puntarenas – Attracting more investment to the area

From small 15 room hotels to large condominiums complexes and residential areas where real estate prices can reach up to $700,000, the district called Cóbano in Puntarenas is experiencing something different from what it was five years ago.

Vast natural riches have attracted more tourist developments, even marine projects are on the way and the local people and tourists can see that.

A couple of years ago the investors started to proceed with permissions for the construction of important projects. “This has taken us unprepared since we do not have enough personnel to meet all the demands”, said Eladio Cortés, Council manager of Puntarenas.

Despite that, many of the projects (condominiums, private houses and hotels) keep on been built by the beach on pieces of land that belong to Tambor, Santa Teresa and Las Delicias’s communities.

According to various real estate offices around the area, the market has been dominated by foreigners: Israelis, Americans, Dutch’s, Italians and Germans.

“The locals have some land projects, small commercial businesses, some Bed & Breakfast hotels especially dedicated to the surfer tourists that settle in Santa Teresa and Mal Pais”, said Pieter C. Kalman, real estate assessor and developer of Amor del Mar.

Costa Rica Real Estate Prices Increasing:

Due to new investors coming to do business in the area, the prices of the lands are increasing. “One year ago the prices were $200 per square meter in front of the sea. Nowadays, the price is $500 and there is no land available any more”, commented Carlo G. Kõhlinger.

Carlton Solle shares the same opinion. “Prices can duplicate and even triple, it all depends on the location and on the quality of services such as electricity, water, telephone, etc…”

From Paquera to Tango Mar, for example, there are pieces of land with prices between $50 and $75 per square meter, whereas in Mal País and Santa Teresa prices are between $50 and $300. In the Tambor area it is common to sell agricultural plots which are between 5,000 and 8,000 M2, starting prices about $275,000

According to Köhlinger and Joseph Callahan, there are normally three types of investors;

• Real estate investors that buy a piece of land to develop it and sell it to a third party.
• Investors that purchase a piece of land to build their home and …
• People that buy a condominium to spend some vacation time there and then rent it out while they are out of the country.

Typical examples of those are Tango Mar and Los Delfines, which were the first luxury condominiums built in the area. The high demand and the lack of land to develop commercial areas have made the locals move to another areas such as San Isidro, Las Delicias and Cabuya which have more of a residential profile.

Fragmented Real Estate Development:

The heyday that Cóbano has had is due to the development of Puntarenas in the last two years. The town has seen a great commercial, residential and touristy growth. According to the Costa Rican Chamber of Construction (CCC) this Province went from 387,686M2 of construction in 2005 to 1,200,265M2 in November 2007. Between 2005 and 2006 it increased 137%, the biggest ever registered in that part of the country.

Real Estate agents and developers agree that the development of this area has been fragmented. “The first town to attract investors was Montezuma, but it got saturated and they started to move to Mal País and Santa Teresa where the hit has been the commercial activity”, said Diego Toro.

Tambor has continued to be a residential area with a few big and small condominiums. Only the group Tambor Hills, Los Delfines’ administrators, is developing four new condominium projects with houses from $195,000.

Mansions are also in construction in Las Delicias. Prices are between $1 million and $2 million. The forecast for this year is to build a 150 houses/condominium and a five stars hotel, in contrast with the low development that has been seen in other areas like Manzanillo due to the bad condition of the roads.

That development has brought a lot of problems to the area like continuous electricity blackouts and shortage of water. This shows inefficient infrastructure unable to satisfy the high demand. People consulted highlighted the need to reconstruct the roads and bridges from Parquera to Manzanillo. Some of them have been abandoned for years or damaged by heavy rainfall.

Finally, they pointed out that Cóbano Municipal Counsel should have a 1,600% and 2,000% tax increase on the marine terrestrial zone (ZMT) supposedly to discourage investors and to stop the development.

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.