Sun, Sand and Scarcer Supply

Houses first listed in 2025 had been on the market a median of 325 days by the end of May (594 listings).

From January to May, 129 new houses came to the Aruban market, against 195 in the same months of 2025. The median ask for those five months was $569,000, against $559,000 a year earlier. Fewer houses, at much the same price.

May on its own reads differently: 29 new listings at a median of $663,000, up 43% on last May. That is one month on a small sample, and the five-month figure does not follow it. The clearer change is at the cheaper end. 64 houses asked under $400,000 in the first five months of 2025; this year 29 did.

Months are compared on the same brokerages as the five-month totals, so May reads 33 → 26 here.

Most of the year's shortfall came in two months. January brought 18 fewer houses than a year earlier and April 42 fewer. February and March were level.

Houses first listed here in 2025 had been on the market a median of 284 days by the end of May (270 listings). A dash means too few listings to quote a reliable median.

Six new houses came to market in the north in May, against twelve a year earlier. Three of them were already pending by the time of observation: a $410,000 house in Alto Vista, a $450,000 house in Tanki Leendert and a $663,000 house in Washington. The dearest asked $2,999,000 in Palm Beach and Malmok.

Over five months the district listed 49 houses against 81, the largest fall in absolute terms on the island. The median ask stayed where it was, $663,000 against $675,000, and so did the price per square metre. What went missing is the cheaper end: 21 houses under $400,000 last year, seven this year.

Houses first listed here in 2025 had been on the market a median of 365 days by the end of May (129 listings).

Ten new listings in May against thirteen, at a median of $660,196. Four of the ten were in Sabana Blanco and Mahuma, two of them asking $1.2m or more, and the cheapest of the month asked $420,000 near Eagle Beach.

Across five months Oranjestad listed 39 houses against 49, a smaller fall than the north's, and its median ask came down from $645,000 to $595,000. Houses under $400,000 halved, from 13 to six.

Houses first listed here in 2025 had been on the market a median of 285 days by the end of May (77 listings). A dash means too few listings to quote a reliable median.

Two new listings in May, at $647,000 in Piedra Plat and $1,150,000. Too few for a monthly median.

Over five months Paradera listed 13 houses against 22, and the median ask eased from $617,988 to $533,700. Its 2025 houses have moved among the fastest on the island, a median of 285 days on the market by the end of May.

Houses first listed here in 2025 had been on the market a median of 275 days by the end of May (58 listings). A dash means too few listings to quote a reliable median.

Eight new listings in May against four, at a median of $417,500. Six of the eight were in Cashero, from $389,500 to $1.75m. The two cheapest, at $195,531 and $278,212, were in Papilon, and the second was already closed at the time of observation.

Santa Cruz listed 20 houses from January to May against 19, the only district to keep pace with last year. Its median ask, $413,960, is the lowest of any district with enough listings to quote, and nine of the island's 29 houses under $400,000 were listed here.

Houses first listed here in 2025 had been on the market a median of 365 days by the end of May (38 listings). A dash means too few listings to quote a reliable median.

Two new listings in May, both in Pos Chikito, at $1,450,000 and $2,995,000. A year earlier Savaneta listed seven houses in May.

Over five months the district listed four houses against fifteen. Last year nine of its fifteen asked under $400,000, and its median was $330,000. This year one did.

Houses first listed here in 2025 had been on the market a median of 360 days by the end of May (21 listings). A dash means too few listings to quote a reliable median.

One new listing in May, a house in Juwana Morto asking $390,000.

Four houses have been listed in San Nicolas since January, against nine in the same months of 2025. Three of the four asked under $400,000. Last year the district's median was $184,270, by a wide margin the lowest on the island.

Marine areas, nature and parks are left out. 7 of this year's 129 listings sit there, in a minor zone, or have no location.

Aruba's spatial plan sorts the island's ground into zones by what may be built on it. A district says where a house is. A zone says what kind of place it is allowed to be.

Read this way, the shortfall of cheaper houses has an address. Listings under $400,000 fell by 35 across the island, and 22 of those were in the main residential zone, where they fell from 40 to 18. The town centres listed no houses at all in the first five months, and the tourism zones five.

These are the low-rise neighbourhoods that cover most of the settled island, where the plan limits building to keep the character of the place. Seven in ten new house listings sit here: 92 from January to May, against 117 a year earlier, at a median of $597,000, up from $549,000.

May brought 21 new listings, as many as last May. Over five months, houses under $400,000 fell from 40 to 18 while those at $1m and above hardly changed.

A dash means too few listings to quote a reliable median.

The built-up neighbourhoods around the two towns, where the plan allows the densest housing. 16 houses were listed here from January to May against 20, and the median ask rose from $307,000 to $446,152.

It remains the zone where a house under $400,000 is most likely to appear, but there were seven of them this year against thirteen. May brought four new listings, from $390,000 in San Nicolas to $780,000 in Oranjestad.

The two town centres and the Oranjestad harbour front are zoned for mixed use, and few houses come to market there. Twelve did from January to May last year, at a median of $575,309. This year none did.

Land the plan keeps for agriculture and low-density housing. Nine houses were listed here from January to May against seventeen, at a median of $625,000, above the island's $569,000. Seven rural houses asked under $400,000 in the first five months of 2025. This year one did.

A dash means too few listings to quote a reliable median.

The coastal strip the plan sets aside for hotels and vacation accommodation. Five houses were listed here from January to May against fifteen, four of them at $1m or more. No house in this zone asked under $400,000 in either year.