The newspaper El Financiaro is positioning Progreso and its surrounding villages as the Yucatan Hamptons.
That’s a reference to the wealthy and extravagant beach communities on Long Island. The comparison may be a stretch, but the flattering report reflects a beautiful 40-kilometer coastline that’s grown from a regional short-stay attraction to a hot spot for international property developers and buyers.
While Yucatecans swarm the beach in the summers, the winters belong to snowbirds escaping the cold of the U.S. and Canada, the Mexico City-based newspaper points out.
Meanwhile, property values are growing and new construction is increasingly sophisticated in this “paradise similar to the New York Hamptons.”
The greatest real estate value in the region, with prices that reach 350,000 thousand pesos per linear meter, were spotted in San Benito and San Bruno.
Víctor Esquivel Peniche, director of Prisma Edificadora, one of the real estate companies that has condominiums in the area, talked about how the region has become an attraction for foreigners since the beginning of this century. But for the Yucatecans, it’s tradition that goes as far back to the 1880s.
Homes here have traditionally been modest. Now, an oceanfront one-bed, one-bath penthouse in Chicxulub Puerto is going for 6.8 million pesos (US$360,000) on the Vivanuncios or Trovit portals.
In Chelem, remodeled one- and two-story buildings with small pools or jacuzzis have been adapted to modern styles. Properties here typically fetch 1.4 million pesos for about 1.3 thousand square meters and a garage, the newspaper reports.
“It is in this area where a large colony of Canadians has established some housing that they visit from the end of November to the beginning of March,” El Financiero reports. “Some, mostly retired people, already have a permanent home in the place and have even adapted to the daily life of the place.”
“They have found the Peninsula to spend the winters fleeing the snow and the low temperatures,” says Esquivel Peniche. “They also rent properties here, that gives Progreso an opportunity to create infrastructure, create a place for fishing tourism.”
In addition to them, hundreds of Mexicans find refuge in Mérida or areas of Progreso as they escape violence elsewhere in the country.
“Yucatan absorbs people who are fleeing from insecurity, violence (…) there is a boom for construction.”
Now, with the increase in demand, construction has extended eastward, to San Bruno, San Benito and Telchac Puerto.
While still not Hamptons-famous, the Yucatan coast will continue to rise in price, according to El Financiero.
“If for decades the Yucatecans preferred their coast instead of any European destination, Europeans do (prefer it) now,” the reporter concludes.
