Is the worldwide financial crisis having an adverse effect on the Guanacaste market?
Without a doubt, the effects are being felt, but in surprisingly varied ways.Flights and passenger traffic have declined by single digits in 2009 over 2008, less than would have been expected. Rental rates also have declined as vacationers are offered better deals for their money worldwide.Combined with low air fares from places such as Miami, this has led to some real bargains in vacations. Pricing is surprisingly strong for finished construction. (Read below to learn why). Many projects have been stopped in gray work, or have not left the planning stages, because of lack of presales and stalled construction financing. Pricing has declined at some of these projects as developers struggle to restart their projects before interest accruals on their loans eat up their expected profits. The risk in “taking advantage” of these deals is that the buyer´s deposit is junior in priority to the bank´s construction loan, so that there is a real risk of loss if the project does not restart success
