Sep 15 2008
Central Pacific real estate and pricing
As you may be aware, there has been a lot of speculation about prices being slashed due to the impact of the slowing USA market.
It seems one has to distinguish the projects before making this observation just yet.
If a project had been dependent on bank financing or client financing through pre construction payment plans, who knows what kind of deal a project would make to keep things moving forward since our central Bank put a hold on construction funding to cool us off. However, a discount in this environment may lead to disaster in the end no matter how much it is. There is a big difference between 50% off ( a good deal for the buyer) and a destitute project.
While we are watching how the impact of the US market is going to play out in Costa Rica, we are very cautious these days (for the fore mentioned reason) to include only projects we deem solid for our Property Scouting Tours .
Please read the report offered directly from the owner and President of Del Pacifico, a Costa Rica central Pacific project. We have been marketing Del Pacifico since they began.
I feel we need to wait and see how the better Costa Rica Real Estate projects fair in this slowdown before we jump to conclusions about fire sales. Having said that, I am still convinced that even the best funded projects are going to look seriously at any offers these days as it is definitely slow.
We just received the following report directly from the president of Del Pacifico, one of our very large projects that we market in the central Pacific.
Things are going gangbusters at Del Pacifico…..We now have over 260,000 square feet of construction either completed or underway! We have also sold 75 condos, houses and lots. There are over 100 people at work at Del Pacifico, but because a lot of the construction action is away from the highway sometimes it hard to see exactly what we’re doing. So here’s a quick update of what we’ve been up to in the last 45 days or so:
From a realtor’s perspective, sales and inventory are the most important topics. Let me say, as an overview, sales are quite strong and we have received 11 contracts or reservation for condos, townhouses, and lots in July and August. Even more importantly we have been raising prices, not lowering them.
Since sales have been strong, our available inventory is tight. In fact, we have only two of the 2 bedroom townhouses available and two of our 3 bedroom units. We also have only 10 of the La Prada town Center units available. The current pricing for these starts at $275,000 furnished. Of special interest might be the one “loft unit” which is available at $295,000 furnished.
Since we are nearly sold out of the three bedroom units, we have started a reservation list for our next phase called “The Portofinos”. These will be the same floor plan as the “Villas” but will be priced somewhat higher with prices starting at $300 per square foot. The last 5 units of the Villa Del Pacifico project sold at $550,000 furnished and a recent private resale of a front line unit has been reported at $650,000.
Here is a discount in our opinion - A currently re sale at Del Pacifico that is a luxury 3 bedroom condo with ocean view for sale at $485,000, which according to the inventory and recent sales is way under market. This the same one that is referenced above for $550,000 furnished.
For further information on Del Pacifico, please feel free to contact me, Robert Shannon at 1 888 581 1786. Take one of our very thorough Property Scouting Tours and see where the best deals are in Costa Rica Real Estate.
