Global Advice Center

International Real Estate In Nicaragua: A Market Snapshot

Posted on Aug 6, 2010 06:15:14 PM

Although you’ll find real estate developments and master planned communities targeting the international buyer in the north of the country, most are concentrated in the south west of Nicaragua. Reveal Real Estate has cataloged over 70 active real estate developments found over 70% were located on the Pacific coast between the fishing town of El Transito (west of Managua) and the border with Costa Rica to the south. San Juan del Sur sits between these two points and has emerged as a prime real estate and tourism center and a stopping off point for cruise visitors.

International real estate investors started to arrive in Nicaragua in the early 2000s. But in those early years if you scored through Nicaragua real estate listings, it would have been hard to find a beachfront condo for sale. The main product on the market was vacant lots serviced with water and electricity located on the beachfront or with sea views. The condo market started to develop a few years later, mainly with off-plan property for sale, followed by single family homes.

The trend towards more sophisticated products and more ambitious master-plans (despite a hiccup 2008-9) continues to this day. A characteristic of the market in 2008-2009, as the global economic downturn started to bite, was the retreat of the speculator. International buyers and now more interested in completed properties, located in established areas with good infrastructure and services, backed up by developers with solid financials. Rather than purchase and wait (hope?) for development to arrive, buyers are looking for opportunities they can physically see and touch and these trends have continued into 2010.

You can fly to Nicaragua with a direct flight from key US hubs. Given this close proximity its not surprising the most international investors are from the United States. Canada comes in second. California, Florida, Atlanta and Texas are the main states represented in the US buyer demographic looking at the country.