Chiloe is very similar to the Patagonia real estate culture. Much of the land holders are made up of rural people that for the most part are not in a hurry to sell; yet, there is also a lot of similarity to the more complex and sophisticated real estate market of the rest of Southern Chile. This is in part possibly due to the close connection to the mainland of Chile, and years of buyers from Chile moving in to the Island of Chiloe, including large international corporations and environmental groups.

So, we would view Chiloe as two essential types of sellers. One would be the small farmer, from Chiloe, looking to sell a few hectares. On the other would be land owners in Chiloe that have bought for either speculation or investment in the past. Of this latter group, this would include private landowners from the Central Regions and Santiago, large corporations including land development companies, foreign investors that bought in previous years, and none-profit environmental organizations that have bought large portions of land with the intent of protecting Chiloe. This last group is a special one. Included among them would be Pinera, the current president of Chile, that holds thousands of hectares that encompasses almost the entire southern half of Chiloe Island., and includes the whale reserve off the coast Essentially, these organizations' impact on the real estate market has been to take much of the island completely off the market, most likly forever. Thus, most land for sale of interest to a private investor will be found from Quellon North including the areas around the cities of Ancude and Castro.

So, the best bet for the small foreign investor looking for a few hectares of land on Chiloe Island is to look for either the small farmer from Chiloe or the private speculative investors from the Central Regions.

The demand over the last 10 years on Chiloe island has progressively reduced in size the property for sale as subdividing larger properties has become common. The smallest property possible in a rural area under Chilean law is 5,000 square meters (little over 1 acre) The small farmers and land holders often only have a few hectares, but at times can hold property up to about 1,000 hectares. It is still common to find properties up to about 100 hectares, 10-20 is common, and more economical 5,000 square meter lots in some sort of planned community or association is becoming fast the norm.

Prices will range from approximately 4 million on the very bottom of the market per hectare, to a more typical 8 million per hectare, and 20 million is possible with things like prime beach, access, water, and so on. Obviously, these are not hard and fast rules, but are general ideas of the price variation as of December 2010.