Off-Plan or Completed on Isla Verde: What Changes

What you are buying in each case

A completed unit is a registered title with a number, an extract and a permit. An off-plan unit is a contract with a developer who owns land and a permit for a building that does not exist yet. The two are not the same asset, and the checks are not the same checks.

Question	Completed	Off-plan
What is registered	the unit, in the seller’s name	the land, in the developer’s name
What you can check	extract, permit, debt statement, minutes	developer’s title, project permit, escrow account
When you pay	10 percent at contract, 90 percent at registration	20 to 30 percent at contract, stages to handover
When you get keys	about 21 days	18 to 30 months, plus delay
Price	market	launch discount of 12 to 18 percent

The payment schedule

An off-plan contract on the island typically takes 20 to 30 percent at signing, 10 percent at foundation, 20 percent at roof, 20 percent at fit-out and the balance at handover. The stages are certified by the project architect, not by you, and a developer who certifies stages early is a developer who needs the money early.

Money paid before handover should sit in a project escrow account registered with the Central Bank of Isla Verde, from which the developer draws against certified stages. Ask for the account number and confirm it with the bank. Payments to any other account are unsecured loans to the developer, whatever the contract calls them.

The delay clause

Every off-plan contract has a delay clause, and most allow the developer six months of grace before any penalty. After that the penalty is usually 0.5 percent of the price per month, capped at 5 percent, and the buyer’s right to cancel opens only after twelve months.

Handover delays on the island are the norm rather than the exception. The Isla Verde Statistics Office recorded a median slip of seven months for the 14 projects completed in 2025, and the longest was 23 months. Price the delay into the discount: a 15 percent discount for a unit delivered 18 months late is a smaller discount than it looks.

Pros and cons

Off-plan gives the discount, the choice of the best units before anyone else, a payment schedule that spreads the price over two years, and a new building with a five-year warranty. Buyers who bought at launch in Playa Norte in 2023 and completed in 2025 paid 16 percent below the completed price on average, per the same statistics office series.

Completed gives the four documents, the ability to see the unit, the building’s accounts and its actual service charge, and keys in three weeks. The cons of each are the other’s pros: the off-plan buyer carries the developer’s risk and the delay; the completed buyer pays full price and gets what is left.

Risks and what to check

For off-plan, three checks: the developer’s title to the land, the project permit with the unit count that matches the brochure, and the escrow account. A developer who has built and handed over two projects on the island is a different risk from one on its first, and the project data cards on this site name the developer on every card, as on Cerro Vista.

For completed, the title checks apply in full, and the association minutes matter more than in a new building because the assessments have started.

Who this is for: scenarios

The buyer with two years to wait, no need to borrow and a tolerance for a late handover should look at launches, especially in districts where supply is coming, and read the new build against resale comparison alongside this page.

The buyer who needs the unit this season, or needs a mortgage, buys completed. Island banks do not lend against off-plan contracts, so the schedule has to come from savings. For that buyer the condo buying guide is the next page.

Frequently asked questions

How big is the off-plan discount on Isla Verde?

Developers priced launch units 12 to 18 percent below the completed price of comparable units in 2025, according to the Isla Verde Statistics Office. The discount narrows with each construction stage.

Is my money protected if the developer fails?

Only if the payments go into a project escrow account registered with the Central Bank of Isla Verde. Payments made to the developer's own account are unsecured. Ask for the escrow account number and check it.

Can I sell an off-plan contract before completion?

Most contracts allow one assignment after 50 percent has been paid, for a fee of 1 to 2 percent of the price. Some ban assignment entirely. Read the clause before you sign.