Whatever happens to the market for real estate in Costa Rica as a whole, there will always of course be variations between regions, even within a country as small as Costa Rica. The fortunes of a given area, including the development of its real estate market, are affected by a number of factors, including the whims of fashion, but one of the most important factors is the completion of large infrastructure and transportation projects. The long promised highway between San José and Jacó, along with the future highway between Quepos and Dominical, will reduce travel time between those communities and will open up new areas for development. Similarly, with completion of a new international airport in the southern Pacific, located between Dominical and Golfito, the real estate market in those areas will surge dramatically, just as happened to the real estate market in Guanacaste when the Daniel Oduber International Airport opened there.

Local municipalities function with varying degrees of efficiency and speed; looming zoning laws will undoubtedly differ from region to region as well; and there is extreme variation between regions with respect to the permitting process for building. To get a sense for these and other regional differences, consult Chapter 4, which gives a detailed geographic overview of the country.