Online Charity Fundraising | An Insiders View On The Market For International Real Estate In Nicaragua

An Insiders View On The Market For International Real Estate In Nicaragua

Posted on April 17, 2010
Filed Under Real Estate Investments | Leave a Comment

If you looked at an aerial map of Nicaragua showing real estate developments with marketing aimed at the international buyer, you’d see a marked concentration in the south west of the country. This part of Nicaragua is the country’s tourism heartland and includes some of the most attractive coastal landscapes in Central America, Lake Nicaragua (the 10th largest lake in the world), the twin volcanic island peaks of Ometepe, the colonial town of Granada (purportedly the oldest continually inhabited city in the Americas), the stunning crater lake at Apoyo and the bustling fishing village of San Juan del Sur on the Pacific coast.

Nicaragua’s real estate market started to capture the attention of overseas property investors in the early 2000s. The main market in these early years was serviced lot sales mostly on the beachfront or with ocean view. Price started to rise quickly and developers began to launch pre-construction and off-plan properties for sale. The period between 2002 and 2007 saw the emergence of a fractional real estate market (this has since cooled), the roll out of sophisticated master plans with high end amenities as well as new property management services and condo-hotel offerings.

2008 and 2009 were difficult years for real estate in Nicaragua. As the world reeled from the global financial crisis, sales volumes fell dramatically and real estate development slowed. Developers noticed that buyers were less interested in speculative offerings and off plan opportunities and more interested in finished property and projects that were well advanced in the roll out of their master plans. Those that have been best able to respond to this new market demand have managed to outperform their competitors.

International buyers in Nicaragua are mostly from the US. Canada comes in second followed by the more distant European countries. Key US feeder areas include the west coast (California primarily) and the southern states.

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