Expats have not yet discovered the really affordable beachfront condos here
Prior to my trip to the coastal areas, all my mental imagery of Ecuador was confined to the highlands–cold nights, snow-capped peaks, high altitude, women in shawls with babies in colourful blankets, and men with plaits. I had never really given Ecuador beachfront any thought, until I heard about the really affordable property there so I couldn’t resist checking it out.
I was headed to Salinas, one of the country’s major coastal resorts, through hills, mountains, grassland, trees and cacti–all with their own peculiar shade of bright green. There were small wooden houses on stilts, with the structure made of bound cane or reed, and a thatch palapa style roof on top.
The infrastructure is generally good if a little patchy in some areas. I travelled on the Ruta del Sol, the coast road from Salinas to Manta. It was an ideal way to see a large section of the breathtaking beaches of Ecuador.
On the approach to Salinas, the vivid green scenery gradually gave way to brown scrub, caused by the mixture of salt and sand in the soil. The entrance into the town has dirt sidewalks, small houses, tiny shops with the owners watching the world drive past. Just when I started to wonder what I was doing here, the scene switched. The beach area came into view…the houses gradually increased in size…a modern shopping mall appeared…a swathe of high rise hotels emerged…a totally different world, to cater to the middle- and upper-class Ecuadorean families.
Salinas sits a on a spit of land, a two hour drive from the international airport. The hotels form an arc on the bay, facing the calm ocean, separated from the water by the Ruta del Sol road. A boardwalk runs the length of one section of the beach, alongside the Ruta. There is a yacht club in the bay, with boats and yachts anchored around it. Beach umbrellas, a plethora of Pinguino ice-cream parlors, some small bars and restaurants, casinos, nightclubs, and jet ski hire comprise the amenities.
The other side of the beach–behind the Salinas Yacht club–is more residential; there are no bars, restaurants, or shops…a perfect arc of tan sand, maintained by a cleaning crew diligently collecting litter. Gleaming boats are moored at the Yacht Club, presumably owned by the wealthy families from Quito and Guayaquil who have been coming to Salinas for generations, buying weekend homes here.
Average condo pricing here runs around $750 to $1,000 per square meter for a condo right on the sand with uninterrupted ocean views. Construction quality looked good, interior finishes above average. So what is the catch? I can hear you ask. The infrastructure is good. The cost of living is very affordable. The climate is ideal for beach living. Why are the prices still so low?
That can be explained by saying that in the four days in Salinas, I saw only one other foreigner. My husband asked this guy where all the other expats were. This man–who owns a home on the beach and has been coming to Salinas for more than a decade–explained that there were none. He said that he really enjoys the town, the friendly locals, the beach, but most of all, the price he paid for his home which was virtually on the sand–a location that he could not have afforded elsewhere.
Pricing is tied to the top-end of the local market and the relatively small pool of people who can afford a weekend retreat on the beach. The economy is not on a boom, rather a slow steady climb from the recession of the late nineties, and average salaries are just a fraction of those in the U.S. so the number of potential buyers is limited. However, more expats are becoming interested in the coastal regions–previously ignored in favor of the elevated, mountainous areas of Ecuador. And once those expats start to enjoy the lifestyle and realize what good deals there are to be had, they will buy…putting an end to the underpriced property, so don’t delay.
Margaret Summerfield
Editor’s Note: Here at IL, we have our eyes firmly affixed on this stretch of coastline, where property is extremely undervalued. There are still some great bargains to be had, but as Margaret told us, the expats are arriving, so it won’t remain a secret for too long. We have compiled a very special report called South America’s Last Coastal Frontier, focusing entirely on this coastline. To find out how to get this report FREE, click here .
Further Resources:
If you would like to learn about another place in Ecuador with several shopping malls, many movie theaters showing the latest releases, modern hospitals, and fresh seafood restaurants…plus $100,000 large oceanfront condos, click here.
Suzan Haskins explains how the dollar is alive and strong in Ecuador here.
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