Oceana · 1BR — Punta Cana

Oceana is a 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom unit (84 m²) in Bávaro, Punta Cana, developed by Noval Properties. Purchased pre-construction at a fixed $149,000 price with $74,500 paid to date (50%); $74,500 to finance at delivery, expected Q1 2027. The buyer's plan is to mortgage the balance in USD — Scotiabank's 8.50% five-year fixed is the preferred structure — and operate the unit as a short-term rental.

The math is unusually balanced. As a rental, the deal works under leverage: $2,160/mo gross rent (ADR $120 × 60% occupancy) against a $647/mo mortgage payment for five years (~$726 after the assumed 10.50% reset) leaves +$576/mo during the fixed period (~+$497/mo post-reset) after Yurbban's 18% pool fee, HOA, insurance, utilities, and 5% reserves — 7.5% cash-on-cash on $79,000 cash to close. As a flip, reselling at the $208,600 market value nets ~$15,100 after 5% selling costs and 10% capital-gains tax — but that is essentially tied with holding and renting for 24 months (+$14,900 rent-path gain). The flip only wins decisively above ~$230,000. This is a hold-and-rent deal unless the market runs.

Punta Cana / Bávaro is the country's primary tourism pole — the highest hotel occupancy, the largest airport gateway, and the deepest short-term-rental market in the Dominican Republic. The 1BR format is the most liquid segment for investor-buyers: lower ticket, broader resale pool. At $1,774/m² the entry sits ~21% below the $2,250 benchmark midpoint — the margin of safety this deal is built on.

Financing scenarios (USD mortgage, 20-year amortization)

Appraisal & loan-to-value

The rental case is the strength of this deal: it cash-flows under leverage from day one, which is uncommon for DR pre-construction at current rates. DSCR of 1.69 means net operating income covers the mortgage payment 1.69× — comfortably inside the bank's comfort zone. Break-even occupancy is 43%: the unit can sit empty more than half the month and still cover every cost including the mortgage. The 18% Yurbban pool fee (vs. a generic 25% assumption) adds ~$150/mo directly to net cash flow — operator selection is the highest-leverage variable in this underwriting.

Operator: Yurbban Hospitality Group

Yurbban Hospitality Group (est. 2012, Barcelona) operates 24 assets and 1,514 rooms across the US, Europe, and Latin America. Its Oceana proposal uses a pool model: all participating units run as a single hotel operation, with net income distributed proportionally to each owner's investment — lower volatility than independent STR, at the cost of control.

Yurbban's stabilized Year-5 projection targets 79% occupancy at $204 ADR with 9.0% ROI and a 37% net margin — materially above this report's 60% / $120 base case, which is deliberately conservative for a new listing ramping over 6–12 months. Treat 79% as upside, not the plan.

The flip case is honest about its limits: at the $208,600 market value, flipping nets $15,142 — just $248 more than holding and renting for the same 24 months. There is no meaningful flip premium at current market pricing; the flip only compensates for the 44-month capital lockup above ~$230,000. The critical sensitivity is delay — each additional 6 months of developer delay shaves roughly 0.4 points off the annualized return without changing nominal profit, because capital sits at 0% during the slip. Note the track record: contractual April 2024 → end of 2025 (Noval's own estimate, missed) → Q1 2027, ~35 months behind — the forward lockup in this analysis (14 months construction + 6 months delay + 24 months hold) assumes no further slippage beyond the 6-month underwriting. Underwrite 12 months of delay as the stress case, not 6.

Price benchmarks

At $1,774/m² the entry sits below the benchmark range — a genuine pre-construction discount in the country's priciest condo market. Punta Cana commands its premium on sustained international demand, and the discount is the margin of safety: even flat prices from here leave the zero-profit resale at $190,786, only 28% above the purchase price.

Tourism demand

The Dominican Republic received 9.24 million visitors in Jan–Sep 2026 (+7.5% YoY), with the tourism minister projecting 12.4M+ for the full year — another national record. Punta Cana's airport handles the majority of arrivals: it is the country's primary tourism gateway, and Bávaro's beach corridor is its densest hotel and short-term-rental zone. Demand is not the risk in this market.

Short-term rental market

Punta Cana / Bávaro has the deepest short-term-rental market in the country — the largest listing pool and the most professionalized management infrastructure. That depth cuts both ways: proven demand, but also the most competitive supply. The 60% occupancy assumption sits above typical 40–50% underwriting; it must be stress-tested, not taken as given. New listings typically ramp over 6–12 months, and professional management plus launch pricing decide which side of the median a unit lands on.

Noval Properties is one of the Dominican Republic's larger developers, with branded hotel partnerships (Wyndham, Archipelago) — a step above the small regional builders that dominate pre-construction. Scale, however, has not meant smooth delivery: buyer forums document years of delays and poor communication at The Reef in Las Terrenas (the company attributed roughly 2.5 years to an environmental permit), and 2025 brought defamation suits against critics. For Oceana specifically, one buyer reported a ~6-month slip with construction progressing. Read the record correctly: institutional scale with a documented history of timeline overruns — underwrite delay, not just price.

Delivery clause (Art. 9) — reviewed

The contract commits the developer to deliver the unit no later than April 2024. The delivery estimate has slipped twice since: end of 2025 (Noval's written estimate in 2025), now Q1 2027 — roughly 35 months behind the contractual date, with each revised date itself missed. Article 9 lists force majeure events that suspend the delivery term: earthquakes or cyclones (suspension for the duration plus reconstruction time), wars, riots, rebellions, armed conflict, and shortages of materials or equipment (extended by the number of days not worked). Buyer late payment on any installment also extends the delivery date. Noval attributes the delays to force majeure: Hurricane Fiona's impact in September 2022, permitting delays following the death of the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, and imported-material supply-chain disruptions. These are Noval's characterizations, communicated in a 2025 email from its post-sales department — not independently verified findings.

Two terms are notably buyer-unfriendly. Rain: isolated rainy days that make site work impossible are added to the delivery date 1:1 — but three or more continuous days of rain are multiplied by two or three times, and the product is added to the delivery date. The developer has no obligation to notify the buyer when rain extensions apply. On penalties: Article 14 does provide a 0.5% monthly penalty on amounts delivered — but only for delay caused by the developer's gross negligence. Noval has classified all delays to date as justified force majeure, declaring the penalty inapplicable. The penalty exists on paper, but invoking it requires the buyer to prove gross negligence against the developer's unilateral force majeure determination — a bar that, in practice, leaves the buyer with no working remedy while capital sits at 0%.

This is the report's gating item: zero of six checks are verified. The financial case is sound, but no money should move at closing until an independent DR attorney confirms title, permits, and contract terms. Budget $500–$1,500 for legal review — the cheapest insurance in this transaction. Transfer tax is 3% of assessed value (~$4,470 at purchase price — the basis for the $4,500 closing estimate above); annual property tax (IPI, Law 18-88) is $0 at this price point, below the ~$167,000 exempt threshold.