While it is not completely undiscovered—upwards of 20,000 American citizens, including many retirees, reside in the country and more than 600,000 American citizens visit Costa Rica annually—the booming real estate business there tends to be respectful of the country’s natural bounty and greatest asset. Conservation developments (those in which large tracts of land are preserved as houses grow) are springing up all over the country, some of them managing to be as luxurious as they are eco-conscious.

Some 5 percent of the world’s plant and animal species live in Costa Rica despite its diminutive size (it is slightly smaller than West Virginia). Over half of the country’s more than 4 million people reside in and around the capital, San José, leaving much of the countryside awash in wilderness. Twenty-seven percent of Costa Rica is wildlife refuge, reserves and national parks. Costa Ricans can even study eco-tourism in college.

Its ecological offerings are only part of Costa Rica’s appeal, however. This "rich coast" is Central America’s most stable democracy. Despite being sandwiched between sometimes-turbulent neighbors Nicaragua and Panama, Costa Rica has been designated a First World nation while still a wild paradise (the United Nations removed it from the list of developing nations in 1992). The standard of living is high and the rates of poverty, illiteracy and infant mortality are relatively low. Pura Vida, or pure life, is the country’s oft-repeated motto.

Picking where to settle down in paradise can be tough, and new developments are erupting across the landscape each day. "The U.S. has slowed down a little, but down here, it’s still an emerging market," says Steve Grubba, a sales associate at Peninsula Papagayo, one of Costa Rica’s grandest developments.


Even in a country with so many natural wonders, location is still the key to real estate happiness. The Atlantic side, which retains its Caribbean flavor, is the least inhabited, especially by ex-pats. The weather is less predictable, and it cannot claim the glorious sunsets and surf of the Pacific. The northwestern edge of the country, Guanacaste, claims the most beautiful white sand beaches, but it is the driest sector, prone to periods of brown in summer, with slightly less spectacular flora. The northern highlands offer beautiful, and very active, volcanoes. The wonderfully wild Osa Peninsula, down by Panama, will probably remain that way for some time—roads and infrastructure are still woefully inadequate.

Luckily, the two main development hot spots—the Guanacaste Provence and the Central Pacific—are unlikely to turn into a mini-America anytime soon. While the government demands that developers generally set aside 10 percent of all land on which they build, most of them voluntarily preserve more.