A 7.6% yield that arrives as 5.5%.

Costa Rica is sold to foreign buyers on yield. The number quoted is almost always gross, and gross is a description of the rent, not of what you keep.

National gross sits around 7.63% in Q2 2026 and San José around 7.5%, with most landlords between 6% and 9% depending on the neighbourhood. Net lands around 5.5%, and most standard investment properties deliver 4% to 6.5% once recurring costs are paid. Amenity-heavy buildings sit at the bottom of that range; professionally managed ones give up another slice for the privilege of not doing the work yourself.

Five and a half per cent, in dollars, in a stable country, is a perfectly good answer. It is just not the answer on the brochure.

Where the yield actually is

• San Pedro, beside the UCR campus — roughly 6% to 8%, student and staff demand.
• Rohrmoser, the non-trophy units — 5.5% to 7%.
• Curridabat, Freses and Granadilla — 5.5% to 7%.
• The Heredia and Belén border, near the corporate parks — 6% to 8%.

Notice what is absent: the trophy addresses. Escazú and Santa Ana run $1,200 to $2,000 per square metre, and a three-bedroom in a gated community is $350,000 to $600,000. Those are good places to own a home. They are not where the yield is.

Two things a foreign buyer should price in

Liquidity first. Average days on market in San José is around 180. Well-priced stock in La Sabana, Rohrmoser or Escazú moves in 90 to 150. If your exit assumption is three months, it is wrong.

Then the buyer pool. About 40% of San José transactions involve an international buyer — which is healthy demand and also a warning. A market where nearly half the bids come from abroad is a market whose liquidity depends on conditions somewhere else.

What we would actually check

• Net, modelled line by line: HOA, management, maintenance reserve, vacancy, municipal tax, and the cost of being eight hours away.
• Whether the building's amenities are an asset or a monthly bill with a pool attached.
• Days on market for units that actually closed in that specific corridor.
• The rental demand source — students, corporate, tourism — and what happens to it in a soft year.
• Title and the concession question on anything near the coast, which is a different article and a longer one.

Prices are expected to rise roughly 3% to 6% a year in dollar terms. That is the appreciation case, and it is reasonable. Just do not add it to a gross yield and call the total a return.