Riviera Maya real estate prices rise by a third in five years: broker

The rocky ruins of the Mayan fortress city of Tulum lean over a ribbon of white sand and bath-warm waters, in 50 shades of turquoise.

The beach resort, 80 miles south of Cancún, on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, has become a bohemian hang-out for the fashion set, who inhale mescal margaritas and lobster ceviche in cabana-style lodges strung out along the strip, reporter Hannah Roberts writes in the Financial Times.

Many of the town’s retreats offer sauna-like temazcales, traditionally used in the Mayan culture to purify the body, mind and spirit, in which followers climb into a stone dugout to sweat, chant and ingest herbal vapours.

Tulum’s low-rise style of development, embracing such local rituals, has helped draw international investors to the so-called Riviera Maya, the dazzling stretch of Caribbean coastline stretching between here and Cancún.

Mexico is one of the top 10 fastest growing property markets in the world, according to data collected by Knight Frank, with prices rising 8 per cent in the year to June, helped by the strength of the dollar.

Prices have risen about a third in the past five years on the Riviera, according to Liszett Torres of Sotheby’s International Realty. Demand has also risen, with sales increasing 25 per cent a year for the past three years, she says.

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Source: ft.com