How to buy in the Riviera Maya without a mortgage, with rates above 11%

On March 30, Banco de México raised its benchmark rate to 11.25%. In February it had already taken it to 11%, a level it had never reached before.

Buyers with a mortgage feel it in the monthly payment. El Financiero ran the numbers this month for an apartment of about 2 million pesos with a 1.7 million peso loan over 20 years: the average rate went from 8.9% to 11.7% in one year, the monthly payment rose from 17,040 to 20,163 pesos, and the total cost grew by 745,000 pesos.

In the Riviera Maya the impact lands differently. Many buyers are foreigners, and Mexican banks usually ask them for temporary or permanent residency and proof of income before lending. Others are Mexicans buying with their own capital. A mortgage was never the only way in here, and at these rates it matters even less.

We have been selling in this area for 18 years. These are the ways we see people buy today, and what we check in each one.

1. Cash

It is the simplest route and it leaves the most room to negotiate: a seller who gets paid in full at closing listens to an offer differently.

Paying cash does not change the order of things. The money is delivered before a notary, with the deed reviewed, a current lien-free certificate, property tax paid and no unpaid HOA fees. If you are a foreigner and the property is within 50 kilometers of the coast, the purchase goes through a fideicomiso, a bank trust.

2. Pre-construction with developer payments

This is the most common structure in Playa del Carmen and Tulum: a down payment, monthly installments during construction and the balance at delivery. No bank is involved, and in exchange for waiting, the pre-construction price is usually lower than the same unit finished.

The risk moves somewhere else: you are paying for something that does not exist yet. That is why we are stricter here. Before you hand over any money, we check that:

• The land is titled in the seller's name and free of liens.
• The project has a valid construction license.
• The contract is registered with Profeco, Mexico's consumer protection agency. NOM-247-SE-2021, published in March 2022, requires these contracts to be registered and available before signing. You can look them up in Profeco's registry of adhesion contracts.
• The developer has delivered other projects. If this is their first building, we tell you before you sign.

If any of this is missing, we do not promote the project.

3. Seller financing on a resale

Sometimes the owner of a finished property agrees to receive part of the price in installments. It is formalized before a notary, usually as a sale with retention of title: the seller keeps ownership until you finish paying. It works when the seller wants to close and you do not want to depend on a bank. It is less common than pre-construction.

4. Credit in your home country

Some buyers from the United States and Canada use a home equity line of credit on the house they already own. Their bank sets the rate, not the Mexican market, so it is worth having a financial advisor review it before committing here.

5. A mortgage with a Mexican bank

It still exists, mostly for people with income and residency in Mexico. At an average of 11.7%, it stops making financial sense for many buyers, especially if the property is a rental and the rent does not cover the interest.

What changes when money is expensive

When credit gets more expensive, what we see is fewer buyers in a hurry and more room to negotiate price and payment terms, especially in pre-construction. Mistakes also cost more: if a project runs late, idle money is more expensive.

Our order is the same as 18 years ago: legal certainty first, then price, then how you pay. In real estate, the profit is made when you buy.

If you are thinking about buying this year, write to us and we will look at which payment structure makes sense for what you want.

Sources

• El Financiero, March 30, 2023: Banxico raises its rate to 11.25% (in Spanish)
• El Financiero, March 11, 2023: buying an apartment in 2023 costs 700,000 pesos more (in Spanish)
• Diario Oficial de la Federación: NOM-247-SE-2021 (in Spanish)
• Profeco: public registry of adhesion contracts (in Spanish)
• Rankia: mortgages for foreigners in Mexico (in Spanish)