The tourism boom in Costa Rica began in 1987, with the number of visitors up from 329,000 in 1988, through 1 million in 1999, to 2 million foreign visitors in 2008.

Costa Rica stands as the most visited nation in the Central American region, with 1.974 million foreign visitors in 2007, thus reaching in 2007 a rate of foreign tourists per capita of 422 visitors per thousand inhabitants, one of the highest within the Caribbean Basin countries, and above other popular travel destinations such as Mexico, Dominican Republic and Brazil.

Costa Rica has been affected like most Countries through this economic downturn but not with the severity we have seen in the USA and some of Europe.  As a result, we have been a little slow to react in lowering prices.

Our Company Tours have seen many people since December 1st.  Many of thse people are gripped with fear for the future and are hard pressed to make a buying decision.  One of the common fears was that Costa Rica had not hit bottom yet and they didn’t want to participate in anymore losses like  their IRA.

I am the listing manager of Costa Rica Retirement Vacation Properties and recently sent mass mailing to over 2000 listings in our database. The response was very encouraging as we updated many listings with lower prices and some owner financing. If this is an indication of what is happening all over, this will bolster things for us dramatically.

We have seen a huge decrease in the prices of the properties. For example, this Costa Rica property in Sierpe is  $200,000, and owner recently reduced price to $95,000.

This Tres Rios residential building lot is beautifully located in San Jose, close to 5 different private schools and 10 minutes to commercial centers and much more, is now priced at only $45,000. This has been dramativcally reduced and owner is also available of $25,000.

There are many more very good deals appearing.

It seems people are now adjusting to the new economy we are facing and are offering properties at very interesting prices and in some cases owner financing.

Since Costa Rica is the most visited nation in the Central American region, there’s no doubt that Costa Rica Real Estate Market is stable and this is a good time to make a safe and good investment.