A listing of most of the large development projects in Central America was recently released by a brokerage firm that has offices throughout region, ranking them by sales price per square foot. I have always been supportive of sharing information and am glad that this firm has taken the initiative to put together such a comprehensive body of work (and shared it). I posted the top 25 below. My biggest takeaways from this report are:

1. Panama beach projects are a bargain compared to much of Central America. Azuerzos at #23 is the first to show up on the list.
2. There is a huge variation in pricing of Central American real estate product, likely due to huge variation in property location and amenities. From remote mountain communities to beach projects a few minutes from an international airport, buyers must decide where they fit in this wide spectrum and find the projects that resonate with them.
3. Costa Rica and Panama City (distinct from Panama beach) have a lot of projects and may risk overbuilding if the demand is not there.
4. Ocean and Urban projects tend to sell for more than highlands or river projects (no surprises).
5. There are a lot more projects in Nicaragua than I had thought. But, after further study, I realized that most are very small.

It is important to use this information carefully. Speaking from experience, pricing is difficult to compile and compare. They claim to use square footage as any living space indoor or outdoor, which can be a troublesome comparison because the definition of outdoor living space is ambiguous (covered square footage or just patio square footage). Many of the projects I have researched have much higher price per square foot if you just include covered and indoor space. Also, it is rather vague as to when the data was collected, so you don’t know if many of these projects are moving forward or have reduced/increased prices.