As mentioned elsewhere, pricing is one of the trickier parts of buying real estate in Costa Rica. This is especially true in the Central Valley, where price points can vary drastically over short distances. The table below should serve as a rough indication of what to expect, but prices on land, houses, and condominiums will vary depending on newness, location, construction quality, and the view. Again, all of these factors can change substantially in a short distance. This makes finding a great broker with lots of experience in the area doubly important. Especially in the Central Valley, there are many properties for sale at ridiculous asking prices, prices that an unsuspecting foreigner from a more expensive part of the world might be willing to pay.

Rudy Matthews, a realtor at Costa Rica Retirement Vacation Properties, says that anything priced right sells out very quickly. One example of this is the Los Sauces gated community in San Francisco de Heredia. The development’s 96 lots sold in one and a half years thanks to the great price: around $150,000 for a 3-bedroom and 2-bathroom house in a secure community with underground infrastructure in an area where similar houses are fetching much more.

Skyrocketing prices in parts of Escazú are showing signs of coming back to earth, just as prices in further-out Santa Ana and Ciudad Colón are starting to take off on their own. Other areas like Heredia and Atenas are becoming more popular for their location and value. The Roca Verde gated community in Atenas, for example, sold out its phase II lots for twice as much as its similarly-sized phase I lots.

Even if Escazú has a reputation for being expensive, it offers the advantage of better services and dining. The best shopping and entertainment in the country is in Escazú, while supermarkets and restaurants cater specifically to an expatriate crowd. The sheer volume of construction means the area is entering a buyer’s market. Meanwhile, in areas like Heredia, Grecia, Atenas and Naranjo, a lack of housing means the opposite is true, and prices are rising steadily.

On the other side of San José, the suburb of Curridabat saw a 65% increase in real estate prices in 2006 alone, according to Coldwell Banker San José East Owner Broker Alvaro Riba. With land pricing in at around $150 per square meter, the cost of property is reaching Escazú levels. Of course, the further out you go from Curridabat, the cheaper it becomes. Out toward the former Costa Rican capital of Cartago, prices are lower by about a third, although as usual there is a great deal of variation.

The most interesting part of the Central Valley at the moment from an investor’s perspective is along the route the new highway will take. Investors are already snapping up property near the projected slip roads and farms around Orotina, San Pedro (near Orotina, not the San José suburb). Puriscal properties are also becoming hot.