Puerto Vallarta real estate prices are inching up, but unit sales for the first half of 2019 compared with the previous year are down.
On July 1, 2019 we had 2,488 properties of all types for sale in the Bay of Banderas area. There were 503 units sold for US$184,554,484. Although this is 9 percent less than the first six months of 2018, the average sales price for all three property types was US$366,908, up 17 percent, indicating a slow but steady increase in average sales price in most areas.
Once again, condo purchases continue to lead the way, with the highest U.S. dollar volume of sales coming from Zona Romantica, or Emiliano Zapata, on the south side of the Rio Cuale. It is estimated there are another 500 pre-construction units approved, in addition to what we see already being built.
Questions are beginning to arise, though, about the ability and focus of the builders and the city to plan ahead and provide infrastructure sufficient to accommodate all of the area, and to not negatively affect current older and newer construction already in place.
Can electricity, water and Internet access be sufficiently provided so as not to have black- or brown-outs? Will water drain into engineered pipes and systems to properly drain the area, while not polluting the Bay of Banderas or rivers?
Can a builder receive a permit from the city and the promise from the notary, that the property can be issued an escritura without verifying any water available to the property? Does this situation mean the city will accept the documents at closing to register the property in the public records?
Without water to the site, does this mean builders have to create their own sewer system or use a septic system that does not pollute or seep into the exiting water system provided to other properties?
Potable or bathing water can be brought in by paying for pipas, trucks that bring in huge amounts of water for the cisterns of the properties. What happens if more properties are built with no water available from Seapal or the companies that provide potable water? Do they have a lock or permission as providers to jack-up the prices?
But it’s full speed ahead at this moment in Zona Romantica. Condos under construction, new and resales account for 66 percent of the entire reported real estate sales in the Bay of Banderas area the first half of this year. The total number of condo sales for the first six months was 373, for a total volume of US$121,953,863.
Other top sales areas for this same period were the Hotel Zone, Southshore and Nuevo Vallarta West.
Homes accounted for 30 percent of all sales volume for the first half of 2019 and have continued to be the second most popular seller throughout the Bay of Banderas. In years past, there were more buyers for individual homes, but tastes have changed over time, as well as buyer profiles changing to a more mobile, younger population able to buy a condo as a second home, therefore reducing the pool of single home buyers.
The Southshore has been the leader in home sales the first half of 2019, registering107 sales.
Second in home sales is Punta de Mita, which is a growing, attractive area for upscale home buyers. For a long time, sales reporting from this area has been at a minimum.
Punta de Mita will have the majority of high-end properties that are inside gated communities and the 1,200-acre Four Seasons development, which includes condos, homes and lots for sale.
Nuevo Vallarta is third in home sales with the biggest increase in average sales price for the first six months of the year, US$502,238.
Vallarta Marina is fourth in sales volume totals, and San Pancho, farther up the coast of Nayarit, has been selling enough homes to have an appreciation. Average sales price was US$828,083.
Land sales always fall behind condo and home sales, but we know huge commercial sales of large tracts are not reported in our FBS MLS system. Land is 4 percent of total real estate sales in the Bay of Banderas area. Punta de Mita is the star with a US$2,700,000 sale. Second is the Southshore of Vallarta, with a tract costing US$2,573,000.
We also have categories of mixed use, commercial, fractional, multi-family, business traspasos, but at this time few statistics are available.
If you would like a report showing additional statistics for individual areas, please send your request to info@casasandvillas.com with the subject line: First Half 2019 Stats.
