2009 has been a tough year for real estate sellers in Central America. Sales volumes are down, buyers are more risk adverse and financing is tight. The one bright spot is a growing group of ‘lifestyle buyers’ looking for cheap properties and a low cost of living. Many see Central America as an affordable safe haven and a way to side-step the worst effects of an economic downturn at home.

As it’s cheap real estate these lifestyle buyers are after, we thought we’d offer up a resource that highlights the lowest priced real estate in the four countries we follow: Belize, Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua.

Not surprisingly, the most affordable way into the market is by purchasing a lot or homesite. Our analysis looks at master planned communities targeting the international buyer. This means that a lot purchase comes with access to community amenities. Swimming pools, clubhouses and fitness centers are the most common. In some of the larger, resort-style communities, you’ll find golf courses, restaurants, shopping centers, racket courts, hotels and marinas.

So what’s the starting price point for lots in master planned communities?

We’ve built a ranking table to answer this question, giving the results in overall price and price/sqft for 2009. The table complements the earlier PriceRank we prepared for single family houses and condos. The columns are sortable letting you organize the list in different ways. If you want to know what amenities are offered by each real estate development, click through to the individual page for the answer. You’ll also see if the amenities are planned or completed.

A quick glance at the table shows two broad themes:

• Real estate developments located in Nicaragua tend to rank lower (ie are lower in price) than those in Costa Rica, with Belize and Panama falling somewhere in between. This pattern mirrors the level of maturity of the real estate markets - from emerging (Nicaragua) to middle markets (Panama and Belize) to the most mature (Costa Rica). We’ve analysed this before by plotting ‘development curves’ to show the relative levels of each of the markets.
• Generally speaking ocean property has a premium over other locations. Master planned communities on the ocean rank higher for the most part than lake/river and pastoral locations.

Rank Real estate development Country Location Location type Median price ($) Median price/sqft

1	Camino Del Rio	Belize	Belmopan	Lake/river	20,000	2
2	Lomas de Santa Rosa	Costa Rica	Tamarindo	Pastoral	21,200	6
3	Club Alegria	Nicaragua	Granada	Pastoral	21,500	2
4	Better in Belize	Belize	Belmopan	Lake/river	23,000	1
5	Prana del Sol	Nicaragua	Tola	Ocean	25,000	3
6	Rancho Las Lomas	Costa Rica	Parrita	Ocean	26,500	4
7	Villa Davina	Panama	David	Lake/river	28,400	3
8	Casa Llanta, Nicaragua	Nicaragua	South of San Juan del Sur	Ocean	30,000	1
9	Congo Hills	Nicaragua	San Juan del Sur	Ocean	30,000	3
10	Rancho Los Suenos	Panama	Espave	Pastoral	31,000	2
11	Waterside	Belize	Flowers Bank	Lake/river	31,730	1
12	Progresso Heights	Belize	Corozal	Lake/river	34,816	3
13	Rancho del Oro	Nicaragua	San Juan del Sur	Ocean	35,000	2
14	El Camino del Sol	Nicaragua	San Juan del Sur	Ocean	38,175	5
15	Apanas Lake Estates	Nicaragua	Matagalpa and Jinotega	Lake/river	39,900	2
16	Rancho Papayal	Nicaragua	San Juan del Sur	Ocean	40,000	2
17	La Vista Nicaragua	Nicaragua	Tola	Ocean	40,000	2
18	Consejo Shores Belize	Belize	Corozal	Ocean	42,500	2
19	Seahorse Tropics	Nicaragua	San Juan del Sur	Ocean	44,200	4
20	Villa Lagos	Nicaragua	Granada	Lake/river	45,240	5
21	Parque Maritimo el Coco	Nicaragua	South of San Juan del Sur	Ocean	48,600	7
22	Las Fincas de Escamequita and Las Haciendas	Nicaragua	South of San Juan del Sur	Ocean	49,000	1
23	Belize Reserve	Belize	Cayo	Pastoral	49,950	2
24	Paraiso de Amelia	Nicaragua	San Juan del Sur	Ocean	50,000	4
25	Tamarindo Beach and Ocean Estates	Nicaragua	Central Pacific Nicaragua	Ocean	50,000	5
26	Bella Mar Nica	Nicaragua	Tola	Ocean	52,561	5
27	Cerros Sands	Belize	Corozal	Ocean	53,500	5
28	Dreamscapes Belize	Belize	Dangriga	Ocean	54,111	5
29	Finca Java	Nicaragua	Matagalpa and Jinotega	Lake/river	55,000	0
30	Selva del Mar	Nicaragua	Tola	Ocean	55,000	5
31	Bella Vista Guasacate, Nicaragua	Nicaragua	Tola	Ocean	59,000	12
32	Altos de Maria	Panama	Chame	Highlands	59,100	3
33	Club Vistalagos	Nicaragua	Laguna de Apoyo	Lake/river	64,000	4
34	Cantamar Playa Yankee	Nicaragua	South of San Juan del Sur	Ocean	65,000	4
35	Montanas de Caldera	Panama	Boquete	Highlands	67,500	4
36	Finca del Mar	Nicaragua	Central Pacific Nicaragua	Ocean	70,500	4
37	Hills of Santa Marta	Nicaragua	Tola	Ocean	72,000	6
38	Turtle Cove Lake and Yacht Club	Costa Rica	Arenal	Lake/river	72,720	4
39	El Encanto del Sur	Nicaragua	San Juan del Sur	Ocean	73,500	4
40	Costa Dulce, Nicaragua	Nicaragua	South of San Juan del Sur	Ocean	82,000	6
41	Starfish Reef	Panama	Bocas del Toro	Ocean	84,000	3
42	Hacienda Los Molinos	Panama	Boquete	Highlands	84,660	6
43	Pacific Marlin, Nicaragua	Nicaragua	San Juan del Sur	Ocean	85,000	7
44	El Club del Mar	Nicaragua	South of San Juan del Sur	Ocean	89,000	7
45	Papagayo Golf Lots	Costa Rica	Playas del Coco	Ocean	90,000	1
46	Remanso Beach Resort, Nicaragua	Nicaragua	South of San Juan del Sur	Ocean	92,792	12
47	olcan Springs Ranch Estates	Panama	Volcan	Highlands	97,250	4
48	Bahia Lomas Estates and Marina	Panama	Bocas del Toro	Ocean	98,499	4
49	Balcones de Majagual	Nicaragua	Marsella / Maderas	Ocean	99,000	6
50	Mansions at Banyan Bay	Belize	Ambergris Caye	Ocean	101,000	15
51	Paradise Dreams	Panama	Bocas del Toro	Ocean	103,333	10
52	Boquete Country Club	Panama	Boquete	Highlands	107,189	5
53	Valle Verde	Costa Rica	Central Valley	Highlands	107,685	1
54	Boquete Plantation	Panama	Boquete	Highlands	110,000	7
55	Rio Oria Estates	Panama	Azueros Peninsula	Ocean	112,000	1
56	Cala Azul	Nicaragua	San Juan del Sur	Ocean	117,000	11
57	Orchid Bay	Belize	Corozal	Ocean	119,000	9
58	Finca las Brisas, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Nicoya	Ocean	120,750	2
59	Montanas y Mar	Costa Rica	Quepos/Manuel Antonio	Ocean	122,500	1
60	Cheetah Chombo	Costa Rica	Cahuita	Ocean	125,500	1
61	Cerro Grande Estates, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Tamarindo	Ocean	126,250	1
62	Placencia Yacht Club	Belize	Placencia	Ocean	130,000	18
63	Gran Pacifica	Nicaragua	Central Pacific Nicaragua	Ocean	132,665	21
64	Montecristo Beach and Golf Resort	Nicaragua	Central Pacific Nicaragua	Ocean	133,833	10
65	Rancho Santana	Nicaragua	Tola	Ocean	136,750	5
66	Residencial La Esmeralda, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Tamarindo	Ocean	137,500	4
67	Hacienda Iguana	Nicaragua	Tola	Ocean	140,417	7
68	Tierra Pacifica	Costa Rica	Playa Junquillal	Ocean	145,000	2
69	Sanctuary Bay Estates Belize	Belize	Stann Creek	Ocean	146,500	3
70	Bosques de Vista Marina, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Playas del Coco	Ocean	150,000	6
71	Playa Santa Rosa	Nicaragua	Central Pacific Nicaragua	Ocean	155,563	13
72	Costa Paraiso	Nicaragua	South of San Juan del Sur	Ocean	159,000	7
73	Rancho Villa Real, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Tamarindo	Ocean	171,000	3
74	Portasol	Costa Rica	Dominical	Ocean	180,500	2
75	Sittee Point	Belize	Hopkins	Ocean	193,500	13
76	Lobster Cove	Panama	Chuchecal Bay	Ocean	208,750	8
77	Pura Jungla, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Paraiso	Ocean	209,275	2
78	Lomas del Mar, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Playas del Coco	Ocean	212,500	3
79	Brisas del Pacifico, Nicaragua	Nicaragua	San Juan del Sur	Ocean	217,174	9
80	Eagles View, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Nosara	Ocean	224,900	5
81	Valle Escondido	Panama	Boquete	Highlands	227,140	7
82	La Reserva Camaronal, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Samara	Ocean	233,475	18
83	San Buena Golf	Costa Rica	Southern Pacific	Ocean	234,400	11
84	Ladera del Mar	Costa Rica	Playas de Coco	Ocean	237,000	4
85	Villas Cabo Vela	Costa Rica	Playa Grande	Ocean	247,000	3
86	Sunset Point Bocas	Panama	Bocas del Toro	Ocean	255,000	10
87	Manuel Antonio Estates	Costa Rica	Quepos/Manuel Antonio	Ocean	284,000	5
88	Cabo Caletas Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Esterillos	Ocean	285,000	18
89	Cocoplum Belize	Belize	Placencia	Ocean	305,250	11
90	Sonidos del Mar, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Nosara	Ocean	306,667	28
91	Coco Bay Estates	Costa Rica	Playas del Coco	Ocean	311,250	12
92	Balcones del Lago Arenal	Costa Rica	Arenal	Lake/river	315,000	4
93	Rancho Playa Negras	Costa Rica	Playa Negra	Ocean	337,112	22
94	Lora Hills Costa Rica	Costa Rica	Playa Ostional	Ocean	498,877	11
95	Hermosa Heights	Costa Rica	Playa Hermosa	Ocean	565,000	48
96	The Four Seasons Papagayo Peninsula	Costa Rica	Papagayo	Ocean	950,000	31
97	Hacienda Pinilla	Costa Rica	Tamarindo	Ocean	970,983	45
98	Isla Viveros Panama	Panama	Isla Viveros (Pearl Island)	Ocean	993,866	18

We’re continuing to sort through the data we collect, looking for the best ways to present and dig out the facts. We’d love to have your ideas and suggestions. They’ll be more price rankings to follow. We also plan a “Master Plan Completion Index” to give a sense of how far along real estate developments are with their master plan - a piece of information that savvy real estate investors should follow with care. www.revealrealestate.com/blog/perfect-master-planned-community/