U.S. Developers Set Sights on High-End Housing in Mexico
 | | Loreto Bay, Baja California, Mexico |
U.S. companies, such as Loreto Bay and Active Living International, have begun carving out their housing niches south of the border, and they are getting plenty of assistance from the Mexican government and partnering Mexican companies. Loreto Bay is developing high-end condominium-style housing on 8,000 acres along three miles of picturesque beachfront on the Baja California peninsula. Mexican President Vicente Fox’s government already has invested more than $200 million in infrastructure improvements to aid its development.  | | Future sight of Sensara Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico |
Active Living International, which specializes in active living retirement communities, is creating Mexico’s first-ever active adult community, Sensara Vallarta, in Nuevo Vallarta. It is partnering with the Mexican development and construction company, Grupo Suite, and together the two companies have invested nearly $100 million in their retirement community.  | | David Collins |
Now that the Fox administration has strengthened property rights, contract laws and the country’s mortgage finance market, American developers are no longer wary of doing business in Mexico. Mexico is a great location to build a retirement community, said David Collins, president and founder of Active Living International and an NAHB member. “The weather is fantastic year round, prices are low, there is good health care and it’s a short plane ride from home,” he said. The opportunity is also inviting. Collins previously partnered with Grupo Suite to launch Sensara, the first active adult community in Spain. Sensara has already received recognition as the “Best Retirement Community Development in Europe” at the 2004 Home Overseas Awards in London. Collins said he has gained the confidence to invest and build in Mexico after attending NAHB’s 1st International Housing Conference of the Americas in Mexico City in 2003. At the conference, he networked with other U.S. and Mexican housing sector entrepreneurs and realized that, “Mexican and American businessmen shared the same objective — we want to do business. And whether in Mexico City or Orlando, we’re looking for opportunities. It opened my eyes to the range of possibilities that exist in Mexico,” Collins said. Subsequent to the conference, Mexican cement company, Cemex, commissioned Active Living International to conduct a market study on the development of 10,000 retirement housing units.  | | Model of Sensarta active adult community in Spain |
With title and insurance companies, such as Stuart Title and investors like Calpers and Prudential Real Estate Investments, he said he now feels confident that Mexico has the necessary institutions and investors in place to guarantee success. Third Mexican Housing Conference Set for November Builders and building product suppliers looking to tap the lucrative and growing Mexican housing market will gain practical advice and make valuable business connections at NAHB’s 3rd International Housing Conference of the Americas. The conference will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Mexico City, Nov. 3-5. For more information about the upcoming conference, visit www.nahb.org/mexicoconference. | 
