Real Estate Growth in Costa Rica

Scott Oliver - June 2008

According to the Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de Arquitectos de Costa Rica in 2007 Costa Rica saw 8,500,000 square meters of new construction which employed about 152,000 people.

The most active and dynamic region is San Jose which showed growth of 25% followed by Guanacaste with 19% and Puntarenas with 18%.

1. San Jose - Escazu, San Jose & Santa Ana = 2,126,993M2
2. Guanacaste - Santa Cruz, Carrillo & Liberia = 1,591,958M2
3. Puntarenas - Garabito, Aguirre & Puntarenas = 1,522,047M2
4. Alajuela - San Carlos & Alajuela = 1,280,722M2
5. Heredia = 955,810M2
6. Cartago - La Union & Cartago = 598,110M2
7. Limon - Pococi, Guacimo & Limon = 389,471M2

With 4,754,804M2 residential real estate in Costa Rica represented 55% of the growth last year.

Offices, strip malls, stores, restaurants and others made up 1,486,804M2 and industrial 643,081M2 with wall, parks, farm buildings 19%.

Written by Scott Oliver, author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa and Costa Rica's Guide To Making Money Offshore.