Riviera Maya real estate: buying a beach house or condo in Mexico's Caribbean

We are brokers in Quintana Roo and Yucatán, the two states that share the Yucatán Peninsula, not across all of Mexico. If you searched for a house in Mexico and have not yet picked a town, this is the stretch of coast most North American buyers end up choosing between.

At a glance

How we count. Every figure on this page is an asking price from our own current listings on October 5, 2026: not closed sales, not appraisals, and they move with whatever happens to be listed. Medians are the middle asking price of each market's live for sale listings. Tulum means the town, its neighborhoods and its beach, and the coast road north of it is counted separately. Across the region that is 812 live listings, 132 of them in our beachfront category and 450 of them finished homes and lots you can buy and walk through today.

Beachfront in the Mexican Caribbean

Every beach in Mexico is public. By federal law the beach and a 20 meter strip of land behind it belong to the nation, and access to them cannot be blocked (Ley General de Bienes Nacionales, Articles 8 and 119). A beachfront home owns the land behind that strip, and the view, the access and the quiet that come with it.

Our beachfront category holds 132 listings across the region, and it covers both homes on the sand and homes in beach access communities a short walk from it, so read each listing for which it is. Here is where it sits:

• Cancún: 34 listings, almost all apartments in branded towers on the hotel zone, Puerto Cancún and Costa Mujeres beaches, with a median asking price of $2,970,000 USD.
• The coast north of Tulum (Soliman Bay, Tankah and Xpu-Ha): 29 listings, a mix of houses, apartments and lots on small bays, median $1,500,000 USD.
• Tulum: 27 listings, from hotel zone residences to beach access lots and houses near the sand, median $1,111,600 USD.
• Playa del Carmen: 24 apartments in two beachfront developments, median $1,380,500 USD.
• Akumal: 5 listings, four of them houses on the bays, median $1,950,000 USD.
• Cozumel, Puerto Aventuras and Puerto Morelos: 5, 4 and 3 listings, with Cozumel's waterfront apartments starting at $234,375 USD.

What it costs. Across the region, a beachfront house on our listings asks a median of $1,985,000 USD, from $950,000 USD at Xpu-Ha to $15,000,000 USD in Cancún's hotel zone (18 houses). A beachfront apartment asks a median of $1,550,000 USD, from $234,375 USD on Cozumel to $8,823,529 USD in Cancún (96 priced). Beachfront lots start at $135,000 USD at Xpu-Ha. Every beachfront listing we hold is on one page.

Houses and condos, market by market

What each market holds on our listings today:

• Tulum: 199 houses and 181 condos and penthouses, plus 61 lots. Houses ask a median of $775,600 USD and condos $349,000 USD. It is the place on this coast for a house with a pool or land to build on.
• Playa del Carmen: 67 condos and penthouses, 24 beachfront apartments and 9 houses. Condos and penthouses ask a median of $481,696 USD.
• Cancún: 67 apartments and penthouses at a median of $1,650,000 USD, and 14 houses, including canal front homes with private docks in Puerto Cancún.
• Puerto Morelos: 16 condos at a median of $307,600 USD.
• Puerto Aventuras: 17 condos and penthouses at $749,730 USD, 4 marina residences and 9 houses at $1,962,000 USD.
• Akumal: 20 condos at $287,500 USD and 9 houses at $1,399,000 USD, all 31 listings complete and ready to buy today.
• Soliman Bay, Tankah and Xpu-Ha: 10 houses at a median of $2,397,500 USD, apartments and lots.
• Cozumel: 14 apartments at $318,235 USD, in and around San Miguel.
• Bacalar: 22 condos and penthouses at $403,500 USD, several with lagoon views.
• Mérida and Progreso: 15 apartments and penthouses and 5 lots, including finished apartments at Yucalpetén near Progreso.

For the whole picture by type, see homes for sale, condos and apartments, villas and land.

Getting there

Most buyers fly into Cancún (CUN), which handled 29.3 million passengers in 2025 across four terminals and flies to most of North America. From the airport, Puerto Morelos is about 25 minutes, Playa del Carmen about 45, Puerto Aventuras about an hour, Akumal about an hour and twenty, and Tulum an hour and a half to an hour and three quarters on Highway 307.

Tulum (TQO) opened on December 1, 2023, about 41 km and 45 minutes by road from downtown Tulum. It has nonstop flights all year from Atlanta on Delta, Dallas and Miami on American and Houston on United, Canadian routes in winter, and United from Newark from December 17, 2026 to January 24, 2027 (our piece on the winter schedule).

Cozumel (CZM) has its own international airport, with flights all year from Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and Miami and more in season; otherwise the passenger ferry from Playa del Carmen takes 35 to 45 minutes. Isla Mujeres is about 13 km off Cancún, reached by ferry from Puerto Juárez and Gran Puerto.

Mérida (MID) sits inside the city, under 5 km from the center, with 3.94 million passengers in 2025 and nonstops to Houston and Miami all year, Dallas in season, and Toronto and Calgary this winter. Chetumal (CTM), about forty minutes south of Bacalar, flies to Mexico City.

The Maya Train runs a 1,554 km loop around the peninsula, completed in December 2024, with stations at Cancún Airport, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Tulum Airport, Bacalar, Chetumal Airport and Mérida's Teya station. Trains run to a published timetable at trenmaya.gob.mx rather than on the hour, so it suits a trip along the coast more than a daily commute.

How a foreigner buys anywhere in the region

The rules are the same in every market on this page. Mexico's restricted zone is the band within 50 km of the coast and 100 km of the borders (Ley de Inversión Extranjera, Article 2), and all of these markets sit inside it, Mérida included, about 35 km from the Gulf. Inside the zone a foreign buyer holds a home through a fideicomiso, a bank trust that gives foreign buyers full ownership rights: to live in the home, rent it, sell it and leave it to their heirs. The trust needs a permit from the Foreign Ministry and runs for up to fifty years, renewable at the owner's request (Articles 11 and 13 of the same law).

The deed is signed before a notario, a government appointed notary who acts as the legal authority on the transaction, not a US style notary. Our guide to buying in Tulum walks through the steps, costs and timeline, and it applies across the region.

Which market suits whom

• A house with a pool, or land to build on: Tulum, with the widest choice on the coast.
• A finished apartment in a working city: Playa del Carmen, or Mérida inland.
• A branded tower on the beach, twenty minutes from the airport: Cancún.
• The shortest airport run in a small town: Puerto Morelos.
• A gated community with a marina and golf: Puerto Aventuras.
• A finished home on a quiet bay: Akumal, or the coves of Soliman Bay and Tankah.
• Divers, and anyone whose city flies straight to the island: Cozumel.
• A freshwater lagoon and a slower pace: Bacalar.
• Colonial streets, hospitals and a big airport, with the Gulf beach half an hour away: Mérida and Progreso.

The comparison guides go deeper, market by market: Tulum vs Playa del Carmen · Tulum vs Cancún · Tulum vs Puerto Morelos · Tulum vs Puerto Aventuras · Tulum vs Akumal · Tulum vs Cozumel · Tulum vs Bacalar · Tulum vs Mérida

Frequently asked questions

Can foreigners buy beachfront property in Mexico?

Yes. On the coast a foreign buyer holds the home through a fideicomiso, a bank trust that gives foreign buyers full ownership rights to live in, rent, sell and leave the property to heirs. The trust runs for up to fifty years and renews at the owner's request. The beach itself and the 20 meter strip behind it stay public, as on every Mexican beach.

How much is a beach house in Mexico's Caribbean?

On our own listings on October 5, 2026, a beachfront house asks a median of $1,985,000 USD, from $950,000 USD at Xpu-Ha to $15,000,000 USD in Cancún's hotel zone. Beachfront apartments start lower, from $234,375 USD on Cozumel, with a median of $1,550,000 USD. These are asking prices, not sales.

Where is the best place to buy property in the Riviera Maya?

It depends on what you want the home to do. Tulum has the widest choice of houses and land, Playa del Carmen and Cancún the city services and the shortest airport runs, Akumal and Puerto Aventuras finished homes in quiet communities, and Cozumel and Bacalar the island and the lagoon. Our comparison guides set each one against Tulum.

Is it cheaper to buy in Playa del Carmen or Tulum?

On our listings, Tulum's median asking price is $490,000 USD against $649,500 USD in Playa del Carmen. Tulum carries more houses and land, and Playa more apartments, so compare like with like: a condo or penthouse asks a median of $349,000 USD in Tulum and $481,696 USD in Playa. These are asking prices from October 5, 2026.

Do I need a fideicomiso?

For a foreign buyer anywhere on this page, yes, or a Mexican company. Every market here sits inside Mexico's restricted zone, the band within 50 km of the coast and 100 km of the borders, Mérida included. The fideicomiso is set up at closing before a notario, a government appointed notary who acts as the legal authority on the transaction.

Where to look next

Every market we sell: Tulum · Playa del Carmen · Cancún · Puerto Morelos · Puerto Aventuras · Akumal · Soliman Bay · Tankah Bay · Xpu-Ha · Cozumel · Isla Mujeres · Bacalar · Mérida · Progreso · El Cuyo

By type: Homes for sale · Condos and apartments · Beachfront · Land · Villas · How to buy real estate in Tulum · Talk to us