Puerto Rico’s Luxury Market Courts Second-Home Buyers

The short version

• A La Cala estate at Dorado Beach closed at $40 million on Oct. 1, 2025, matching the island’s top recorded price, El Nuevo Día reported; a $65 million Dorado listing has not been reported sold
• San Juan’s airport handled a record 13.6 million passengers in 2025, up 3%, with international travel up 12%, El Vocero reported
• Four Seasons opened at Bahía Beach in Nov. 2025, Moncayo’s Auberge resort is due in 2027 and Esencia in Cabo Rojo plans first guests in late 2029, developers say
• Critics say the Act 60 extension to 2055 ignores displacement and affordable housing, NotiCel reported; the average existing home on the island costs more than $212,000

A new pitch to the wealthy

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Oct. 12, 2026) — For a decade, Puerto Rico’s high-end housing market was tied to tax incentives that drew investors who moved to the island. Now some in the industry are making a different argument: that the next big buyers will own a home here without living here full time.

An unsigned essay titled “The Future of Luxury Real Estate in Puerto Rico,” written in the style of a broker’s market outlook and shared with PuertoRico.com, makes that case. It argues that wealthy buyers will treat the island the way they treat St. Barts, or Cap Cana and Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, and it describes buyers paying $10 million to $30 million for homes in Dorado. The essay offers no sales data for that shift, and no public figures show how many luxury buyers are part-time residents. Its author and brokerage are not named.

What the sales records show

The top of the market is real, even if thin. La Cala, an enclave PRISA Group is building inside Dorado Beach, closed its first sale on Oct. 1, 2025 at $40 million, according to El Nuevo Día, which said the price tied the island’s record. Forbes reported that a Dorado Beach home sold for $40 million in 2022, another for $37 million that year and one for $30 million in 2021.

In a release on Oct. 31, 2025, the developer’s sales arm said two La Cala estates were under contract at about $33 million and $40 million, and that most luxury communities on the island price homes between $3 million and $20 million. El Nuevo Día reported in August that another La Cala sale was the second-highest in the project’s history, without a price. A Dorado Beach compound listed for $65 million in October 2025 would set a new island record if it sold near that price, Forbes wrote, citing the listing brokerage.

Those prices are reported sales and listings, not a full public record. PuertoRico.com did not find a citable public dataset of recorded luxury sales from the Property Registry or the CRIM municipal tax agency.

New resorts, more flights

The essay’s claim that luxury is spreading beyond Dorado has support. The former St. Regis at Bahía Beach in Río Grande reopened as a Four Seasons resort with residences on Nov. 20, 2025, the hotel company announced. In Fajardo, Moncayo, a 1,100-acre community, has picked Auberge to run a 68-suite resort with residences debuting in 2027, Auberge said; Marea Ecologista reported that permit officials cleared its sales office, spa and clubhouse to open in 2026.

On the southwest coast, the developers of Esencia in Cabo Rojo said in an Aug. 11 release that the $2 billion-plus project won approval to proceed and plans 500 hotel rooms, 1,200 residences priced from about $2 million to over $20 million, and first guests in late 2029. The project is contested. At a Senate hearing, the water and power utilities said they lacked capacity to supply it, The San Juan Daily Star reported, and senators have questioned a $497.7 million tourism tax credit authorized for it, Caribbean Business reported; the developers say Esencia will run on its own water and solar systems.

Air access, which the essay lists as a selling point, is growing. Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport handled 13.6 million passengers in 2025, a record and 3% more than in 2024, El Vocero reported from data released by the operator’s parent company. Domestic traffic rose 1.8% to 11.9 million, and international traffic rose 12% to 1.7 million, figures El Nuevo Día also reported.

Act 60 and the housing debate

Tax policy is still part of the pitch. Under Act 38-2026, investors who apply for a resident investor decree by Dec. 31, 2026 keep a 0% Puerto Rico rate on qualifying interest, dividends and post-move gains through 2035, while later applicants pay 4% and the program runs through 2055, DDEC Bulletin 2026-004 explains. New applicants must also buy a primary residence on the island within two years.

The GAO reported that 5,852 resident investor decrees were granted from 2012 through 2024, and noted, from a 2024 DDEC study, that about 37% of investors holding decrees were homeowners on the island as of 2020, and that those homes averaged more than $5 million. Over the last ten years, the GAO added, island home prices and rents grew at a slower pace than nationwide.

Housing advocates see a different picture on the ground. The PR No Se Vende coalition argued that stretching the program to 2055 leaves speculation and displacement unaddressed, NotiCel reported. The outlet cited financial regulator OCIF figures showing average prices above $360,000 for new homes and $212,000 for existing ones, against a median household income of about $24,000 to $25,000 a year.

Where the sources differ

Developer releases, the listing brokerage and the press agree on the La Cala and Dorado Beach prices, but the $33 million figure was a contract, not a closed sale, and the $65 million figure is an asking price. Officials and Esencia’s developers disagree on whether the project can supply its own water and power. GAO’s housing data and the coalition’s affordability figures measure different things.

What the reports do not say

No public source cited here measures how many luxury buyers are second-home owners rather than residents, and none reports Property Registry or CRIM data on high-end sales. The essay’s comparisons with St. Barts and with Cap Cana and Casa de Campo are its own; no price comparison is offered. The essay’s author is not identified.

Related on PuertoRico.com

• Cabo Rojo travel guide
• Dorado travel guide
• Places to stay in Dorado
• Restaurants & bars in Dorado

Read more on PuertoRico.com

• Dorado town guide
• Fajardo town guide
• Cabo Rojo town guide
• Condado guide
• Act 60 guide: what changes in 2027
• Moving to Puerto Rico
• Tyler Perry’s Puerto Rico move and the Act 60 changes

Sources

Every link below was opened and checked when this story was published. Official means a government body, agency or the organization itself; Reporting means a news outlet.

1. Reporting Vendida por $40 millones: nueva mansión frente a la playa de Dorado iguala récord de venta en Puerto RicoEl Nuevo Día (La Cala $40M sale, Oct. 2025) · elnuevodia.com · Spanish · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
2. Reporting Puerto Rico’s Most Expensive Home Just Hit The MarketForbes ($65M listing; 2021–22 sales) · forbes.com · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
3. Official Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve Residence, Celebrates Record-Setting Contracts for La Cala EstatesDorado Beach Real Estate (PRISA Group) (Developer release, Oct. 31, 2025) · accessnewswire.com · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
4. Reporting Coastal mansion in Dorado Beach sets sales record for 2026El Nuevo Día (English) (Aug. 29, 2026) · elnuevodia.com · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
5. Reporting Luis Muñoz Marín Airport breaks passenger recordsEl Vocero / The Weekly Journal (SJU 2025 traffic) · wjournalpr.com · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
6. Reporting Luis Muñoz Marín Airport closed 2025 with 13.6 million passengersEl Nuevo Día (English) – SJU (SJU 2025 traffic) · elnuevodia.com · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
7. Official Now Open: Four Seasons Resort and Residences Puerto RicoFour Seasons Hotels and Resorts (Opening, Nov. 20, 2025) · press.fourseasons.com · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
8. Official Puerto Rico grants approval for EsenciaEsencia developers (Reuben Brothers, Three Rules Capital) (Developer release, Aug. 11, 2026) · prnewswire.com · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
9. Reporting Water & power agencies tell Senate they can’t support Esencia’s demandsThe San Juan Daily Star (Senate hearing) · sanjuandailystar.com · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
10. Reporting Esencia is Designed for Infrastructure Self-Sufficiency, say DevelopersCaribbean Business (Developers’ response; tax credits) · caribbean.business · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
11. Official Auberge to Manage Luxury Hotel and Residences at MoncayoAuberge Collection (Dec. 3, 2024) · auberge.com · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
12. Reporting OGPe autoriza apertura de spa, casa club y oficina de ventas de Moncayo ResortMarea Ecologista (Moncayo permits) · mareaecologista.com · Spanish · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
13. Official Informative Bulletin DDEC No. 2026-004Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC) (Act 38-2026 rules) · docs.pr.gov · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
14. Official Puerto Rico: IRS Should Improve Oversight of Taxpayers Claiming Exemption from Federal Taxes (GAO-26-107225)U.S. Government Accountability Office (Decrees, housing data) · files.gao.gov · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST
15. Reporting Piden no extender los beneficios de la Ley 22 hasta el 2055NotiCel (PR No Se Vende; OCIF prices) · noticel.com · Spanish · checked Oct 12, 4:05 PM AST

How we checked this

Sale prices come from El Nuevo Día, Forbes and a Dorado Beach developer release; project details from Four Seasons, Auberge, the Esencia developers, Marea Ecologista, The San Juan Daily Star and Caribbean Business; airport figures from El Vocero and El Nuevo Día; Act 60 rules from DDEC; decree and housing data from the GAO; criticism from NotiCel.

Compiled by the PuertoRico.com News Desk from the reports and statements listed above, and checked against them before publishing. It does not include original interviews. Spot an error? Email support@puertorico.com with a link to this story.