$2 Million Homes in Costa Rica

Punta Islita | $2.2 million

A newly renovated hilltop estate with ocean views in a gated community.

Perched 427 feet above sea level, this three-bedroom house on Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula offers sweeping ocean views. The 45-home development is in Punta Islita, a resort village in the western Guanacaste province. Most of the residents are American and European, with a few Costa Rican owners. The upscale Punta Islita Hotel, a Marriott Autograph property, shares the development’s grounds.

Punta Islita has a small airport for charter and private flights about three miles from the home. Museo Islita, Costa Rica’s only open-air contemporary art museum, is a short distance from the house. Don Ramiro, a restaurant and art gallery popular with locals, is less than a mile away, and the Punta Islita Wild Macaw Reserve, an avian refuge operated by the Macaw Recovery Network rescue organization, is about a mile away. For groceries, shopping and services, the nearby towns of Carrillo and Sámara offers more options.

The Costa Rican seller has been renting the house on Airbnb for up to $2,000 a night.

Size: 3,500 square feet

Price per square foot: $627

Indoors: The Spanish-style house on 1.7 acres was renovated in 2022 and recast in a palette of yellows and blues. An arched front door opens to a covered terrace with views of the Pacific. Off the terrace, an airy living and dining space opens to the pool and veranda through yellow sliding doors. All three bedrooms have en suite baths and face the ocean through glass doors. The primary suite is windowed on two sides and includes a glassed-in shower that opens to the outdoors. The kitchen has a semicircular window and checkerboard floors, along with steel-blue cabinets topped with white granite. Floors throughout the house are in Italgraniti ceramic tile from Italy.

Outdoor space: The rear terrace is designed as a second living space. Along with a 430-square-foot pool, the partially enclosed terrace has two dining tables, a bar and several niches with seating. Arches separate part of the seating area from the pool deck. Howler monkeys, white-tailed deer, macaws and gray foxes roam the community grounds.

Costs: All homes in Costa Rica are subject to an annual 0.25 percent municipal property tax, calculated on the registered property value. Since 2008, the government has also imposed an annual luxury tax on homes valued above 100 million colons (about $189,000). Rates range from 0.25 percent to 0.55 percent, depending on a home’s value. Annual property taxes on this home are approximately $5,500.