Go South Now…Southern Costa Rica is Poised to Boom

A new international airport is planned just south of Palmar Sur in the Osa province.

Where is the next real estate hotspot in Costa Rica? If I were to answer, I'd confidently say "the southern portion of the country."

If you read International Living postcards and articles, you know that one of the strategies for wise investing promoted by real estate experts is front-running the infrastructure. And in this part of Costa Rica now is the time…the infrastructure is on its way.

See the map at left. Just above the word Osa, at the bottom right, locate the town of Palmar Sur. A new international airport is planned near here that will be bringing planeloads of tourists as early as 2010.

Savvy investors know that international airports tend to have a significant impact-you can expect to watch prices rise quickly here in the coming years. As proof of this concept, look what's happened in the northwestern Guanacaste province since the Daniel Oduber International Airport opened in Liberia in 1995. Tourism and real estate have boomed there, particularly along the coastline. Property values have, in some cases, quadrupled as million-dollar condominium complexes and luxurious hotel offerings have been built by the likes of the Four Seasons and Hilton. Traffic has increased here so much, in fact-as we told you in our Costa Rica First Alert of August 27- that the Liberia airport is now struggling to keep pace.

It is expected that the country's newest international airport, scheduled to open in 2010, will be the key to unlocking the tourism and development potential of southern Costa Rica. Currently, the area where the new airport is planned is only accessible to mass tourism via a four-to-five-hour drive from San Jose.

The planned airport is to be built roughly five kilometers (about three miles) south of the city of Palmar Sur in the Sierpe Valley. Along this part of the coast, lush jungled mountains loom over long, pristine stretches of beach. These are Costa Rica's most romantic and jaw-dropping beaches, in my opinion, and it seems a shame that they may soon be peppered with tourists, but such is the price of progress. Let's hope the government keeps its eco-values front and center on this one.

The airport is planned to open in stages; the first, in 2010, will reportedly be able to service up to 50-passenger international flights. Eventually, plans are to have a runway capable of accommodating even the world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A-380.

Although the first stage of the airport is still more than two years from completion (and 50 passengers per plane won't amount to a huge onslaught), it is expected that investors will jump in early (like now) to buy real estate while prices are still relatively low. Once the airport is completed and the wave of tourism begins, developers eager to cash in will no doubt send property values skyrocketing.

For better or for worse, you heard it here…

Your Latin America Insider,

Suzan Haskins
for International Living

P.S. Today is the day to take the first step (and save money at the same time). Today is the last day to act on the Early Bird discount for the fast-approaching Live and Prosper in Costa Rica conference. I'll be there as your emcee…I'm looking forward to being back in one of my favorite countries on earth. I'm even hoping to entice my husband to join me there after the conference for a few days of R&R. (Dan, if you're listening, I'd like to take you back to Dominical, where we spent our honeymoon….) Although you're not invited on my weekend with my husband, I do hope you can join us at the absolutely fabulous Los Sueños Marriott Resort November 5-7. Why should you?Find out here. Remember, the Early Bird discount expires today.