Costa Rica's Housing Market Cooled in June: Prices Fell, but Homes Took Longer to Sell
Median sale price dropped to $447,000 (-7.8%) and active listings fell 14% from May, while the typical time on market increased — based on data from more than 15,000 active listings on Propiedades.cr.
Monthly market report — June 2026 compared with May 2026, based on more than 15,000 active listings on Propiedades.cr.
Key takeaways
- Median sale price fell to $447,000, down 7.8% from May.
- Median rent also dropped, to $2,200 (-4.3%).
- Active listings fell 14%, to 18,669 — the sharpest inventory pullback of the year so far.
- Median days on market nearly doubled: from 158 to 277 days (+74.8%).
- Guanacaste (-25.1%) and Puntarenas (-36.9%) saw the steepest drops in active inventory, while Heredia (+63.3%) and Cartago (+69.2%) posted the biggest jumps in new listings.
- Platform-wide inventory kept growing: total listings published since April 2025 passed 39,000, up 9.5% from the end of May.
The national picture
June broke the price momentum the market had been building. The nationwide median sale price fell to $447,000, down 7.8% from May. Median rent slipped too, to $2,200 (-4.3%).
The bigger story isn't price — it's time. A typical listing now takes 277 days to sell, up from 158 in May, a 74.8% jump that's the largest single move in this report. That points to buyers taking longer to commit, sellers holding firmer on price, or some mix of both.
Active listings dropped 14%, to 18,669, while new listings ticked up just 0.3%, to 2,040. New supply is still coming in — the existing inventory is simply clearing (or aging off) faster than it's being replaced.
State of the marketplace
Zooming out from month-to-month swings, Propiedades.cr's total listing volume keeps expanding: cumulative listings published since April 2025 reached 39,079, up 9.5% from the end of May. It's the clearest read on how fast formal real estate supply is showing up on the platform.
Province by province
| Province | Median price | MoM | Active | MoM | New | MoM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San José | $393,727 | -6.2% | 7,069 | -3.9% | 1,108 | +15.2% |
| Puntarenas | $539,000 | -2.0% | 3,140 | -36.9% | 198 | -7.5% |
| Guanacaste | $650,000 | -7.0% | 2,884 | -25.1% | 213 | +15.1% |
| Alajuela | $320,000 | -1.8% | 2,151 | +5.2% | 247 | -6.4% |
| Heredia | $350,000 | -2.8% | 1,162 | +5.4% | 160 | +63.3% |
| Cartago | $299,000 | -0.3% | 628 | -1.4% | 66 | +69.2% |
| Limón | $331,000 | -4.4% | 250 | +3.3% | 17 | 0.0% |
Puntarenas and Guanacaste — the two provinces most tied to the second-home and tourism market — absorbed the steepest inventory pullback in the country. San José, the largest market by volume, held the most stable price of the group but still lost new-listing momentum.
Canton spotlight: this month's biggest price movers
These are the cantons with the largest percentage swing in median sale price this month (minimum 5 homes sold in both months, to filter out statistical noise):
| Canton | Median price change |
|---|---|
| Flores | -38.6% |
| Buenos Aires | -34.4% |
| Paraíso | +29.8% |
| Santa Bárbara | -29.1% |
| Bagaces | -28.2% |
At canton-level sample sizes, these swings mostly reflect which specific homes happened to sell that month — read them as a signal worth watching, not a confirmed trend.
By property type
| Type | Median price | MoM |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | $500,000 | -9.1% |
| Apartments | $289,000 | -3.3% |
| Land | $330,000 | -1.5% |
| Commercial space | $350,000 | +6.1% |
| Office | $520,000 | +4.0% |
| Warehouse | $1,000,000 | +4.9% |
| Building | $887,500 | +2.0% |
Houses led the price decline this month (-9.1%), while commercial space, offices, and warehouses — segments tied more to business use than residential demand — all gained.
Where buyers are looking
By active-listing volume, the country's most-listed districts remain San Rafael, Bahía Ballena, Pozos, Tamarindo, and Jacó — a mix of high-demand urban areas and beach destinations.
But the real growth story this month is elsewhere. These districts added the most new listings compared to May:
| District | New listings (June) | New listings (May) |
|---|---|---|
| San Rafael | 148 | 44 |
| Pozos | 122 | 32 |
| Santa Cruz | 68 | 22 |
| Santa Rosa | 137 | 104 |
| Piedades | 46 | 18 |
San Rafael and Pozos show up on both lists — not only do they carry the largest inventory, they're also adding new listings faster than anywhere else in the country.
Among condo developments, Hacienda Pinilla, Valle del Sol, Condominio Parques del Sol, Condominio Montezuma, and Villa Real carry the most active listings right now.
Industry pulse
Of the more than 38,900 listings ever published on the platform, 47.4% have already been removed — sold, rented, or expired. That's a healthy turnover rate for a market with this much activity, and a sign that the active inventory you see on Propiedades.cr today reflects real, current supply rather than stale listings piling up.
Methodology
This report uses median (not average) prices and listing counts for all active properties on Propiedades.cr as of the end of June 2026, compared against the end of May 2026. Canton-level movements require a minimum of 5 homes sold in both months to reduce small-sample noise. District figures reflect listing counts, not price, since historical district-level pricing isn't tracked yet. Platform-wide inventory is measured from April 2025, when current data collection began.
Looking to buy or sell in Costa Rica this month? Browse active listings on Propiedades.cr.
