Gringo Prices

by Tom
(Miami)

If Cuenca is a city of +\- 500,000 and the Gringo contingent numbers in the 5,000 range and even if it increases by 5 fold, what's the big reason for escalating real estate? You are talking about less than 2% of the population now to up to 10% of the population later. I do not understand what the big fuss is all about. The same is true for other price increases blamed on the gringo.

You live there, you tell me, please.

Also if you know, given 3 areas, Bahia, Salinas and Cuenca, which enjoys the lower cost of living?

Hi Tom.

Thanks for your great question. There are two answers to the price increase question. First, expats are forcing prices up, somewhat, by walking in and simply buying whatever they see, practically without negotiating. Whereas we wouldn't even think about buying property in North America without our first offer discounting the asking price by 10%-25%, down here, down here all sense seems to leave us.

Prices appear so cheap compared to North America that we figure we must be getting a good deal. Compared to some places in the US now, Cuenca housing is quite expensive. Yes, you can find a small one bedroom apartment for less than $50,000, if you want a small one bedroom. And yes, a three bedroom can cost less than $100,000, but that's for less than 1,100 square feet. That's a cramped apartment.

The other reason for price increases in Cuenca, according to a study done by the University of Cuenca, is returning Ecuadorians bringing boatloads of money with them from the US and Europe. That's slowed down considerably in the last year, but according to the study, a very large percentage of the price increases were due to the influx of money from repatriating Cuencans.

As for your question about Bahía, Salinas and Cuenca, Bahía has, by a large margin, the lowest cost of living, followed by Salinas. But you also have to consider what you want in your life.

Bahía has no supermarket, so for a large shop you need to travel over an hour each way to Manta. There's almost no cultural activity, except for partying along the river malecón. If you enjoy water activities, it's a great place, with a yacht club. But unless you're happy creating your own entertainment, you could be very bored there.

Salinas has two large supermarkets, one in a mall that also has a cinema complex (one that shows movies in English fairly regularly). It has many more restaurants than Bahía, but not a whole lot of culture. Nightlife, yes.

So you'll have to decide what you want out of your life in Ecuador to determine where you want to live.

Jeff