Costa Rica Vacation Rental as Investments Data May 2024

How is Costa Rica’s vacation rental market performing In May this year?

How does the month of May compare to this time in the past? How does 2024 compare to pre-pandemic tourism figures?

We analysed data from Airbnb from 2018 to 2024 for May to see how vacation rentals have performed in a typical low month.

To kick things off, Cost Rica saw 240 new AIRBnBs hit the market this May. This represents a 41 month streak where the total number of vacation rentals in Costa Rica increased from the month before. This is only a small part of the 6,660 of vacation rentals that were added in the last 12 months. Those 6,660 new vacation rentals represents 24% increase in vacation rentals.

Locations – Growth In Vacation Rentals Last 12 Months12 out of the top 15 largest growing locations for vacation rentals over the last 12 months were beach towns, the other locations are San José, La Fortuna and Peñas Blancas.

The top 5 growers were 1, Cahuita with 383 new vacation rentals, 2, San José with 365 new vacation rentals, 3, Jaco with 347 new vacation rentals, 4, Cobano with 321 new vacation rentals and finally 5, Tamarindo with 261 new vacation rentals added to the vacation rental market over the last 12 months.

Locations are hugely important for the performance of ones investment success.

Average Daily Rate (ADR) – Prices On The Rise

Over the last 4 years, the Average Daily Rate in May has increased by $24.34. This is an 11.35% increase bringing the ADR up to $238.65, compared to $214.31 in 2021.

The amount of income your property is capable of producing is extremely important for your investment. For example, in vacation rental markets that are over saturated, such as Jaco, the ADR is typically lower because the quantity of vacation rentals in the market, and the amount of competition that you will find in every condominium.

May – Occupancy is higher than Pre-Pandemic rates

There has been a 8.50% increase in occupancy rates in the month of May, starting in May 2019. May is traditionally a low month in Costa Rica, but after the post pandemic craze wore off, the base level of occupancy has risen to its current level of 38.9%, which is significantly better than the past performances in May pre-pandemic.

Conclusion

The Costa Rican vacation rental market continues to grow, with 41 months of consecutive growth. As seen by April and May data, seasonality has returned to the rental market in Costa Rica. We will need to see how the rest of 2024 data looks, though, to know whether this seasonality is better than pre-pandemic. Current indications for April and May are inconclusive.