For foreign buyers
Built with local realtors
Updated this quarter

Here's 99% of what you need to know before buying in Playa del Carmen.

The 12 documents we wish we had before buying in Playa del Carmen. What each zone costs, what it really earns once the low season is counted, how long it takes to fill and to sell. Plus the things nobody writes down: which fees to refuse, and what a brochure is not telling you.

Get the full pack → $49 See the 12 documents

The 12 documents to make a good real estate investment in Playa del Carmen in 2026

Twenty towers sell the same one bedroom on the same three streets, and the rents have not risen with the count. Most of these documents exist to close that gap. They are put together with realtors, notaría staff and owners we work with in Playa.

Questions

Do you list your sources?

Yes, on every table. Each one says where the figures came from and the month they were collected: the public property registry, published notaría fee schedules, listing and nightly rate histories we track ourselves, condo accounts shared with us by owners, and what the agents we work with in each zone are seeing week to week. Anything that is an estimate rather than a recorded number is labelled as one.

Can a foreigner actually own property here?

Yes, but not the way you would at home. Playa sits inside the coastal strip where foreigners hold property through a bank trust rather than in their own name. That part is routine. The part to watch is the land underneath, since some of it began as ejido, and documents 03 and 06 cover how to tell a clean title from a tidy story.

Is Playa not just an endless row of identical condos?

A lot of it is, and that is the single most useful thing to know before buying here. Units that look the same on a floor plan behave very differently once you compare the block, the parking, the lift and the deed. That comparison is what most of these documents are for.

How long are the documents?

One to four pages each. They are tables and checklists rather than reports, so any one of them takes about ten minutes to read.

Which areas do you cover?

Sixteen zones: Centro and the avenue, Gonzalo Guerrero, Zazil-Ha, Coco Beach and Zona Norte, Colosio, Villas del Sol, Ejido, Playacar Fase 1 and Fase 2, Xcalacoco, Corasol, Mayakoba and Puerto Aventuras down the coast. If you need somewhere or a specific development that is not in there, write to us and we will put it together for you at no extra cost.

I have a question about my own situation.

Ask us. If the answer is in the research we already have, we will send it. If it needs a call to someone in that zone or a look at a specific building, we will do that too and come back to you, at no extra cost.

Is $49 a lot for a set of documents?

You are about to spend a few hundred thousand dollars on a property, in a country whose paperwork you did not grow up with. The wrong tower, a developer who never delivers, fees you were not supposed to pay: there are plenty of ways this gets expensive. We have done the homework so that you do not have to.

What format are they in?

PDF, so you can read them on your phone, tablet or computer.

When do I get them?

Straight after payment. The download link appears on screen and a copy arrives by email.

How often are they updated?

Every quarter. Our contacts in Playa re-check the numbers before each release, so the version you download today is the one updated this quarter.

I have another question.

Ask us on the contact page and we will get back to you.

Three packs

The first pack has 4 documents, the second has 6, and the third has all 12 of our Playa del Carmen research.

All the data and information in these documents was checked this year with agents, notaría staff and owners working in Playa del Carmen.