Construction Up 64% Driven By Tourism
The construction sector grew by 64% in 2006, driven mainly by construction of homes in tourist areas. According to information by the Cámara Costarricense de la Construcción (CCC), between January and December of 2006, some 5.95 million square metres (64 million square feet) of construction was recorded, a record in the history of the country.

In 2005, a total of 3.68 million square metres was construction, up 11% over 2004 when it saw a record 3.26 million square metres.

Residential construction accounted for 70% of all construction, while 18% was attributed to commercial space; 10% to industrial space; and the rest to various types of construction.

The CCC report says that the total investment reached ¢9.27 billion colones (us$1.800.087.378 dollars), more than double the record amount of ¢4.7 billion colones in 2005.

Forty percent of the residential construction was in single family homes, while 31% was for apartments or multifamily structures, with the balance going to industrial and commercial construction..

Jaime Molina, president of the CCC, said that the growth in the sector confirms the projections for 2007 which the CCC conservatily estimates at between 15% and 20% over 2006.

Molina attributed the growth to lower interest rates, in both dollar and colones loans, over the latter part of 2006, which increased the demand for the construction of residential projects.

Interest rates lowered during the year 2006 from an average of 20.05% to 15.34%.

Molina added that the influx of foreigners who decided to have a "second home" in Costa Rica and nationals who decided to build a vacation home at the beach contributed to the increase. The CCC report also shows that a number of foreigners, choosing to move to Costa Rica, decided to build their home in the San José area.

The CCC report shows that San José had the largest percentage of construction (28.1%), followed by Guanacaste (19,8%), Heredia (15,5%), Alajuela (13,7), Puntarenas (13,0%), Cartago (6,6%) and Limón (3,4%).

Randall Murillo, executive director of the CCC, emphasized that the cantones of Santa Cruz, Guanacaste - Tamarindo and surrounding areas - and Garabito,Punternas - Playa Jacó and surrounding areas - led the list of the 81 cantones with the most construction projects, taking the lead away from Santa Ana and Escazú (San José), due to the strong tourism market in those areas.

The CCC calculates that 1.5 million Costa Ricans either directly or indiriectly benefit from the increase in the construction sector. The CCC estimates that the construction sector directly provides 125.000 jobs,