Buying a house in Costa Rica: the two hundred metres, the five years, and 1.5 percent
A foreigner may buy anywhere in Costa Rica in their own name, with one boundary: the first two hundred metres from the high-water line belong to the state. The first fifty metres are public, the next hundred and fifty only in concession — and a foreigner only gets that after five years of living there. Outside that you pay 1.5 percent transfer tax, stamps and the notary, and on sale 15 percent on the gain.
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Written and checked by Auke on , against the sources at the bottom. Is something no longer right? Report it below and I'll fix it.
Yes, as a foreigner you buy anywhere in Costa Rica in your own name, as freely as a Costa Rican. There is one limit, and it lies on the coast:
- The first two hundred metres from the high-water line belong to the state.
- Within that strip, the concession (a right of use for a set term) for the hundred and fifty metres of the restricted zone you only get after five years of residence.
Count on three to six per cent on top of the purchase price: 1.5 per cent transfer tax, registry stamps and the notary. On sale you pay 15 per cent on the gain.
The pitfall is on the coast. What is offered there as "beachfront for sale" is one of three things:
- a concession you have no right to as a newcomer;
- a construction the law declares void;
- the good variant: titled property (with its own entry in the registry) behind the two hundred metres.
In your first year you don't buy. You rent, you get to know the region and the rainy season, and only then do you decide (why that order is fixed). This article is for the moment you've got that far.
Why can't I buy on the beach?
Article 9 of the coastal law of 1977 lays down the zona marítimo terrestre: a strip two hundred metres wide along both coasts, measured from the ordinary high-water line. Article 10 divides it in two. The first fifty metres are the public zone: everyone's and no one's, not to be owned, not to be built on. The next hundred and fifty metres are the restricted zone: state land the municipality gives in concession, for a term, against an annual fee.
And then article 47: no concession to a foreigner who hasn't lived in the country five years yet. And none to a company whose shares or capital are more than half foreign.
What you see on the coast as "beachfront for sale" is therefore either a concession you have no right to as a newcomer, or a construction through a company the law declares invalid. Or it is the good variant: titled property behind the two hundred metres.
How do I know whether the property is titled?
Outside the coastal zone you buy in your own name, and the property sits in the Registro Nacional under a number of its own. So the first question with every home is whether it is titled and what the registry says: owner, mortgages, attachments, easements. A lawyer reads that in a day. Take a lawyer of your own, because the notary in Costa Rica is a lawyer who executes the deed and works for both parties.
Mind the difference with "derecho de posesión": possession without title, sold as if it were property and financed by no bank. What isn't in the registry, you don't buy.
What does buying a house in Costa Rica cost on top of the price?
| Item | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer tax | 1.5 percent on the higher of purchase price and fiscal value | at purchase |
| Registry stamps and notary | by tariff; together with the tax three to six percent | at purchase |
| Municipal property tax | small, yearly | every year |
| Tax on luxury homes | above a threshold | every year |
| Tax on the gain on sale | 15 percent on the gain; for property from before July 2019 once 2.25 percent on the sale price | on sale |
| Coastal concession | only after five years of residence; the first fifty metres never | — |
The buyer pays the transfer tax of 1.5 percent, on the higher of the purchase price and the fiscal value. The Ministry of Finance explains the rate and the basis in its own manual. On top come the registry stamps and the notary, who charges by tariff. All together that is between three and six percent.
The bank rarely comes into it. Costa Rican banks rarely finance foreigners, and then at rates a Dutch person doesn't know. So almost everyone buys with their own money.
The twenty percent discount on the transfer tax from the law of 2021 belonged to the benefits that could only be applied for in the first five years of that law; those ended on 14 July 2026. Whoever buys now pays the full 1.5 percent.
Every year after that you pay the municipality a small property tax, and above a threshold the national tax on luxury homes. And on sale Costa Rica taxes the gain at 15 percent; for property from before July 2019 the seller may once opt for 2.25 percent on the sale price.
Where is my house taxed?
With property the Dutch tax needs no treaty to know what it does: immovable property in the Netherlands is always taxed in the Netherlands, also if you live in Costa Rica. A house in Costa Rica is Costa Rican income as soon as you let it, and Costa Rican gain as soon as you sell it. And that is exactly the income Costa Rica does tax. See the article on AOW, pension and tax for the whole sum.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.6: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Costa Rica or go straight to step 5.6 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Ley 6043 — the zone of two hundred metres along the coast, and who gets no concession — snitcr.go.cr
- Ministerio de Hacienda — the transfer tax of 1.5 percent and the capital gains tax on sale — hacienda.go.cr
- ICT — law 9996 for inversionistas, rentistas and pensionados, and its five-year term — ict.go.cr
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