Where You Can Still Buy a Beachfront Lot for $40,000

Coastal Ecuador is an ideal place to retire or invest.

Thursday, March 20, 2008
Cuenca, Ecuador

Learn more about Ecuador in International Living Postcards—your daily escape

I’ve discovered what I believe is the most undervalued and overlooked section of coastline in South America. On the tropical coast of Ecuador you can still buy a beachfront home for $50,000 and live comfortably on $1,000 a month. Some properties in the area—specifically, in the towns of Manta and Salinas—have gone up by as much as 30% and 40% in the past year, and much of the rest of the coast looks poised to join the up-trend. But it’s not too late to get in on the opportunity.

Inexpensive property is a good deal only when it’s desirable. And that’s the case with this coastal area. Its wide-spread, sandy beaches have been untouched by the housing developers, steel, and concrete.

Not only is Ecuador diverse, it’s beautiful, it’s largely undeveloped, and best of all...it’s very much overlooked.

I’ve received e-mails from readers who have discovered this area. The first was from a friend of mine, Mike Sager. Mike was watching a brilliant sunset from the deck of his new beachfront home, located right on the sand of a beautiful eight-mile stretch of beach on the central coast. And while this in itself conjures up a nice image, the fact that this attractive two-story home cost only $50,000 was the real wake-up call. This is the mark of an overlooked coastal market. His property taxes are $200 per year.

Mike also sent me pictures of a large, 3,000-square-foot beachfront home near his own house. It has gleaming tile floors throughout, a spiral staircase with brass railings, marble counters, and stained glass windows. To top it off, it even boasts a deck with a Jacuzzi that overlooks the ocean sunsets. Nicely landscaped, it has an outdoor bar and cooking area, and fountains inside and out. The asking price is $180,000. This home is right on the sand.

The second e-mail that got my attention came from another IL reader who bought a pre-construction, 12th-floor beachfront condo two years ago for $99,000. He just sold it for $155,000. That’s a 56.5% increase in just two years, and the unit is still a year away from completion. Transaction costs in Ecuador are low, so most of that profit was his to keep. Properties in this particular market have been increasing at about 15% per year, and, if anything, the insiders say it’s just starting to heat up.

If you have watched from the sidelines as coastal real estate prices appreciated in areas of Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and Nicaragua, with some prices increasing 400%, 600%, and more in many Latin American countries over the past decade, the Ecuadorian market, largely unnoticed by most investors, has slumbered. Today, however, there are strong indications that the sleeping giant is waking up.

New beachfront condominiums can still be found in the $75 to $120 per-square-foot range, with some resales going for considerably less. Many small houses on or near the beach are for sale for less than $75,000, and it’s still possible to find quarter-acre beachfront lots for $40,000. Lavish ocean-side estates that would go for million-dollar-plus prices in the U.S. or Costa Rica can often be purchased here for $300,000 or less.

I tell you exactly where to buy on Ecuador’s coast in the current issue of International Living magazine. If you are a subscriber, you can access this article. If you are not yet an International Living subscriber, find out how to become one.

David Morrill
For International Living

Read related articles:

- Fly to Ecuador for $259 (Roundtrip)

- Foreigners Haven’t Found This Ecuadorian Valley…Yet

- South America's Last Coastal Frontier: 1,400 Miles of Coast Ecuador Tried to Hide From the World