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Brits Living in Costa Rica Say Real Estate Remains Profitable Despite Global Sell-Off

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Brits Living in Costa Rica Say Real Estate Remains Profitable Despite Global Sell-Off

Written by Scott Oliver
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
The British author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate and Costa Rica's Guide To Making Money Offshore Scott Oliver confirms that while investors around the world have watched their real estate portfolios plummet in value, prices for quality Costa Rica real estate remain stable and profitable. Mr. Oliver states that: “The number of sales have dropped in the past year – more so on the Pacific Coast than in the capital San Jose area where construction grew by 42.3% in the first six months of 2008 - but for the most part, prices have not fallen and there are certainly no significant 'across-the-board' declines.” Misery may love company however the more you look, the better British real estate investors and people considering retirement abroad feel about investing in Costa Rica real estate and here's why... 1. According to the country's Finance Minister Guillermo Zuniga, in October 2008 Costa Rica is in a "very strong and very favorable" financial position. 2. Costa Rica enjoys a budget surplus and imports and exports have both declined only slightly. 3. Costa Rica is less reliant on the USA than it has ever been, and not only is Costa Rica in the best financial condition its been in a long time, Costa Rica's banks are also in good shape. 4. On the 8th October 2008 the President of the Banco Central de Costa Rica Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez stated that he: "…does not see any economical indications of the world financing crisis affecting Costa Rica." 5. Investors are pleased with the recent announcement that the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo has approved US$850 million loan to help rebuild Costa Rica's roads, bridges, ports, airport, cycle paths and even the Metropolitan Electric Train. 6. As of 10th October 2008 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 40% over the last year, the Costa Rica Stock Exchange is up 11.06% Looking at how mortgage interest rates have risen this year in Costa Rica it would appear that - unlike many countries - the Costa Rican Central Bank has been uncannily astute in predicting and managing a period of much higher risk. Mr. Oliver, who is British and also the founder of www.WeLoveCostaRica.com and www.CasaDeLujo.com says that: “The banks in Costa Rica are more conservative than the banks have been in the USA and were never in the business of handing out ridiculous mortgages to low income people who could not afford the payments.” This is reflected in a 11th October 2008 statement from Maria Isabel Cortes, the President of the Costa Rica Banking Association when she said that: "The increase in interest rates is still is not affecting the punctuality of mortgage payments from the Ticos." Arnoldo Trejos Dobles, the Assistant Director of Bancrédito, stated that from September 2007 - September 2008 the number of people 90 days late on their mortgages has improved from 0.97% to a mere 0.74%. Mr. Oliver added that: “Costa Rica banks were also not in the business of investing their monies in the various meltdown mortgage funds or any other toxic derivatives or, as Warren Buffet called them; ‘financial weapons of mass destruction’.” Mr. Oliver, has worked as a Wall Street trained professional investment advisor since 1987 and confirmed that: “Individual investors in Costa Rica are also very conservative with their investments in financial instruments and also real estate.” With regards to international business he added that: “One reason the US trade deficit is so large is the practice of US corporations offshoring their production of goods and services for US markets to countries like Costa Rica. This is not good news for American jobs but this is great news for Costa Rica because it gives investors confidence when they consider investing in Costa Rica.” This is more apparent when you examine the kinds of companies that continue to move to, and expand in Costa Rica. The most recent news being Amazon.com's new operations in Heredia where they will hire 700 people, Citi Business Services is hiring an additional 200 people for their Global Operations Centre and Western Union is looking for another 550 people. The Costa Rica Stock Exchange is the largest in Central America, comprised of 30 different company's shares, equivalent to the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the USA except that Mr. Oliver cites the data for the most recent year - 10th October 2007 - 10th October 2008: “The Dow is down about 40% and the Costa Rica Stock Market index is up 11.06%.” “Seeing this it is crystal clear that so far, there is zero correlation between Costa Rica's stock market and other global stock markets, and with real estate prices holding steady, there is little correlation between other real estate markets and Costa Rica’s. “ Mr. Oliver concludes by saying: “On Wall Street when they refer to a ‘flight to quality’ it means when investors are moving their capital away from riskier investments to the safest possible investment vehicles, and with the stability being shown by both Costa Rica's financial and real estate markets in comparison to what has been going on elsewhere, and millions of North Americans, British and Europeans looking for more affordable places to retire - it's easy to see why Costa Rica remains a great place to invest.” For more information about retirement in Costa Rica or investing in Costa Rica real estate please contact Scott Oliver, author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa and Costa Rica's Guide To Making Money Offshore and the founder of www.WeLoveCostaRica.com/ where registration is free, simple quick and easy. How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa http://www.welovecostarica.com/public/84.cfm Costa Rica's Guide To Making Money Offshore http://www.welovecostarica.com/public/500.cfm You can also see a free online video interview with John & Sheelagh Richards originally from Scotland and Wales, UK at http://www.welovecostarica.com/members/1807.cfm Contact Scott Oliver – This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or telephone in Costa Rica on (506) 8396-3924 Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these?

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