Limon, situated on Costa Ricas Caribbean coast, is Costa Rica's primary port city with over 55,000 residents. Due to the city's strategic location, approximately $3.2 billion is in the process of being invested in several projects that include a $1 billion investment in a new import/export container port, a $1 billion expansion of the oil refinery in conjunction with the Chinese National Petroleum Company, an estimated $800 million Transhipment Port to service the expanded Panama Canal cargo traffic (185 nm SE and scheduled for completion 2014), a new cruise ship terminal, and several other infrastructure and improvement projects. Collectively, these projects will greatly stimulate the local economy through the introduction of thousands of new, high-paying jobs while the corollary economic benefits will prove to trickle through the rest of the population.
Lack of Quality Housing SupplyLimon currently offers a very limited supply of housing styles and options that are primarily dominated by small single-family homes tightly situated on extremely small parcels of land. Meanwhile, the roads and infrastructure improvements are poorly configured in a fashion not consistent with todays design standards. Accordingly, an opportunity exists to introduce a high quality condominium product based on contemporary design, which is very popular among Costa Ricans living in the capital, San Jose. As such, local responses to the development concept's have been overwhelmingly positive. Most notably, the largest Costa Rican bank (and a likely construction lender) said that the projects sales absorption will only be limited by how quickly new buildings can be constructed. Calypso has been approached by both JAPDEVA (port authority) and SORESCO (the refinery development consortium) to provide housing for their workers.
Strong Housing Market in Costa RicaThe housing market in Costa Rica is far better than that of the U.S. Banks are still well-capitalized and lending on residential development projects that target domestic buyers, while end-user mortgages are widely available. For example, typical terms for a new construction condo is 20% down, 7% fixed interest rate, 25-year amortization periods, and a 40% debt-to-income ratio (DTI). Accordingly, a Costa Rican earning an annual salary of $36,000 could be approved for financing a $160,000 residence.