5 Ways The Jaco Real Estate Market is Changing

Jaco and the Central Pacific area of Costa Rica have long been one of the most visited and popular destinations in Costa Rica it is easy to forget how early Costa Rica is when it comes to the international market. While markets like Mexico, Hawaii, Bahamas, have been handling millions of tourists and homebuyers annually for over 50 years, Costa Rica is still very early on reaching their levels. In fact it was only 15 years ago we started to see Jaco develop, and less than ten years ago when Jaco was a two and a half-hour drive from the airport and the capital. 2020 definitely showed us how the Jaco market could quickly be changing. Jaco’s relationship to San Jose and its proximity to all of the Central Valley residents adds its’ own unique development which I will get to later. And like with many other trends and behaviors throughout different industries and throughout the world, Covid-19 is accelerating changes to our market that many were figuring would be farther out in the future.

1 – The remote worker.  Most Americans and Canadians have limited time off and can find it pretty hard to spend much time traveling. As many employers look to shift to a more flexible workplace, with many allowing to permanently work remotely, many are taking advantage. Especially for those facing cold winters up north, if they can come down for 2-3 months and work in Costa Rica, then it can justify buying a property here. I expect more and more buyers to fall into this category, which I believe will be younger professionals from all over the world.

2 – The urban escape.
Large cities all over the world have seen people looking to escape. A small city apartment, with almost no outdoor space and Covid related restrictions to all the perks of living in a city, have pushed many to seek a more rural setting. Here in Costa Rica, it has been no different. Early on with Covid, we saw many residents from the San Jose area look to rent and buy properties at the beach where they could escape from the city. I have always expected many residents from the San Jose area would seek to live near the beach full time and just commute to San Jose 1-2 a week if needed. Working remotely will accelerate that trend.

3 – The end-user.
The Jaco market has always attracted a large number of buyers who seek to use their property 6-10 weeks out of the year and then rent during the rest of the time. But the past year we have seen a shift of more people focused on the idea of spending more time here and in many cases showing no desire to rent out their property when not here.

4 – Inventory.
Look around and it sure seems like everywhere you look property is for sale. But dig a bit deeper and the most sought out properties are quite limited in supply. With few options or plans of new development in the works, we are approaching a point where supply is becoming an issue. This could bring new developers to the area looking to meet demand or could impact the pricing of existing properties.

5 – Desaturation of the rental market.
With many of the points mentioned above, we are seeing many properties that were rental properties in the past now unavailable as new buyers have different goals. Covid has affected rental numbers so the vacation rental market might not see an immediate impact, but if trends continue, fewer rental properties on the market could benefit some owners in the future.

The real estate market in Jaco is still not at levels seen at the peak in 2005-2007, but the second half of 2020 saw one of the strongest surges we have seen in quite some time, and it will be interesting to see how these recent trends play out moving forward.

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Contact David Karr at 506 8718.7216 or U.S Direct 509.855.7457 if you have more questions about real estate in Costa Rica.