The Dominican Republic is the second largest country in the Caribbean. It is divided into 6 regions – North Coast, South Central, Central, East Coast, North East Coast & South West Coast, with 31 provinces and one National District. Its terrain is mostly rugged highlands with towering peaks plunging down into lush valleys; the highest point is Pico Duarte – 3,175metres. The country has 1,288 km of coastline of which 300 km is golden sandy beaches.

Climate

Tropical climate with little seasonal temperature variation averaging 28°c; average daily sunshine is 9 hours; seasonal rainfall between May and November. Dominican is a green and bio-diverse country, with 41% of its area as inland rain forest.

Tourism

Dominican Republic is a country of superlatives. Yes, it offers hundreds of Kilometres of sandy Caribbean beaches, but it also boasts 83 protected areas of natural beauty, 32 national monuments, six scientific reserves, 15 natural reserves and two marine sanctuaries. It is home to Pico Duarte, the highest mountain in the Caribbean.

Golfers can explore 21 signature golf courses, such as those designed by the likes of Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Robert Trent Jones, Gary Player, Tom Fazio and Nick Faldo.

Caberete on the north coast is one of the best locations in the world for surfing, windsurfing and kite boarding. Wildlife enthusiasts visit Caberete to catch the sight of 3-5 thousand Humpback whales returning to the area each year to breed. Santo Domingo, the charming colonial capital, is the oldest colonised city in the Caribbean, and the final resting place of Christopher Columbus. The list goes on.

There are 26 airports in the Dominican Republic, of which 9 carry international traffic.

Whilst most tourists visit the Dominican Republic for its beaches, there is an expanding eco-tourism and outdoor activity sector, focused on the country's mountains and wildlife.

The country appeals to a wide variety of visitors and enjoys popularity with both the European and North American markets.  Around 75% of tourists come from Europe, with about 25% originating from the United States or Canada. Dominican Republic enjoys some of the highest hotel occupancies in the Caribbean, frequently in excess of the 90% mark.

Economic Factors

Dominican Republic is the second largest economy in the Caribbean and Central America (the first is Trinidad & Tobago). As is common in the Caribbean, the economy is moving from Agriculture to services (especially tourism).. The World Bank now rates the country as Upper Middle Income.

The country’s largest export market is the U.S. On September 5, 2005, the Dominican Congress ratified a free trade agreement with the U.S. and five Central American countries, known as CAFTA-DR. 

After a decade of little to no growth in the 1980s, the Dominican Government initiated a program of economic reform in the early 1990s, adopting sound macroeconomic policies and opening the country to foreign investment. The economy grew at an average rate of 7.6% annually from 1996 to 2000. Growth faltered in the early 2000s as several of the Dominican Republic’s main trading partners suffered recessions. Growth recovered, averaging 7.8% from 2004 to 2007.

An important aspect of the Dominican economy is the Free Trade Zone industry. The country exports goods manufactured in free trade zones (FTZs). FTZ's are agreements between manufacturing countries where customs controls are waived until the good reach their point of sale. FTZ's are a key economic driver to the economy, and a broadly successful strategy.

The Dominican Republic's most important trading partner is the United States. Other markets include Haiti, Western Europe, and China. FTZ's include textiles, electronic products, jewellery, tobacco, and pharmaceuticals, as well as cacao, sugar, tobacco, and coffee. Aside from inputs into FTZs, Dominican imports petroleum and petroleum-derived products, vehicles, and foodstuffs.

Successive governments have invested heavily in tourism development, creating upgraded airports and other infrastructure. 

Property Market

Property is relatively very well priced for the Caribbean, and there have been no significant restrictions for quite some time on foreign nationals owning property in the Dominican Republic.

Many foreign nationals are buying various kinds of real estate for vacation and investment purposes. Unsurprisingly, most real estate transactions involving foreign nationals in the Dominican Republic at this are time generally centred around the vacation trade.
Over the past twenty years, an ever growing number of people from around the world have been travelling to the Dominican Republic on holiday, raising the demand for vacation property. 

Some areas have experienced more growth and investment from abroad, such as the North Coast from Puerto Plata, Sosua, Caberete, to Cabrera, Las Terrenas and Samana, and also the East Coast, Punta Cana and Cap Cana, where some of the World's best golf courses and luxury hotels reside. The north and north-east coast tend to offer the higher quality resort accommodation: two parallel mountain ranges (called the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera Septentrional) run east to west and protect northern Dominican Republic from most hurricane and tropical storm damage. This makes these areas the obvious choice for building high quality accommodation.

A great deal of investment is being made in the development of resort communities. With tourism being the number one industry in the Dominican Republic, investment in the tourist trade through the real estate market is proving to be profitable for many, including an ever growing number of foreign nationals.

Overseas investors can be seen putting their money into hotel resort complexes, apartment projects serving as second homes or vacation properties for those wishing to spend extended periods of time in the Dominican Republic during the year. There is also interest in more upscale and expensive single family homes, including high cost villas and estates that are used by well healed travellers into the Dominican Republic.

Most real estate analysts believe that the trend towards purchasing vacation and holiday related properties in the Dominican Republic will continue unabated through the next two decades.