The coast of Santa Catarina has always sold the same pitch: an ocean view and the price per square meter. In 2026 a second factor entered the equation and started to redraw the luxury map, which is mobility infrastructure. Four major projects across Itajai, Navegantes, Itapema and Balneario Camboriu are shifting the axis of value away from the waterfront and toward the corridors that connect these cities.
The logic is simple. When beachfront land becomes scarce and expensive, what sets an address apart becomes the travel time to the airport, the port and the next beach. That is where the Via Mar highway, the immersed tunnel between Itajai and Navegantes, the new phase of the Port of Itajai and an electric mobility package all come in.
Four projects that move the coastal axis
This is not one isolated project, but a set of works hitting the same region at the same time. When a highway, a tunnel, a port and public transit all advance together, the effect on property value stops being local and becomes structural.
Via Mar, the alternative to the BR-101
Via Mar will be the first state highway with a toll in Santa Catarina. It runs 145.2 km parallel to the BR-101, linking the Joinville region to Florianopolis, split into five lots . The state government has already signed the service order for the designs of four of the five stretches and plans to begin the first stages within the first half of 2026, with roughly R$ 1 billion applied out of an estimated total of around R$ 7 billion . The route includes bridges, viaducts and a double tunnel near Itapema. For the high end buyer, less time stuck on the 101 means more cities inside the viable radius of a second home.
The immersed tunnel between Itajai and Navegantes
It will be the first underwater tunnel in Brazil: 548 meters long and 29 meters deep beneath the Itajai-Acu River, with a crossing estimated at about two minutes . The work is part of Promobis, a mobility program backed by a US$ 90 million loan approved by the Senate together with the World Bank, inside a package that may reach around R$ 2 billion . Construction is expected to start in 2026, with completion around 2031. Today the crossing between the two banks depends on a ferry. Connecting Itajai and Navegantes in minutes turns two neighboring cities into a single market for housing and work.
Port, electric BRT and a new surrounding area
The Port of Itajai is entering a new phase, with a navigation channel concession that foresees an investment of R$ 311 million . Add to that a regional bus rapid transit system with a 100% electric fleet and the redevelopment of avenues in Balneario Camboriu, both within the same mobility program . A strong port generates revenue, qualified jobs and demand for high standard housing nearby, the kind of economic base that holds prices even when the national market cools.
NDMais, Gazeta do Povo and NSC Total, 2026
Itajai, the pole gaining the most traction
While Balneario Camboriu and Itapema lead the price headlines, Itajai has become the city accelerating fastest. The price per square meter closed December at R$ 12,848, up 8.81% in the year, among the five highest in the country . NSC Total sums up the reason in one line: four mega projects could leverage the real estate appreciation of Itajai .
New launches follow the trend. The Itajai Urban Club will have 192 apartments in two towers, with construction starting in April 2026 and delivery expected by mid 2028. Levels Praia Brava, a studio project, carries an estimated sales value of R$ 422 million for the second half of 2026. And the first nautical mall in Brazil, set inside a marina, plans 120 commercial units and an investment of R$ 100 million, opening in the summer of 2026 and 2027 . In Navegantes, the neighborhoods near the port and the international airport concentrate much of the new demand.
What this means for brand and positioning
Here is the point that matters to those who build and those who sell. For decades, the central argument of high end real estate in Santa Catarina was the view. When every new tower promises the same view, the view stops being a differentiator. Infrastructure, by contrast, creates a new and concrete narrative: being minutes from the airport, the port and the next beach.
For the developer, this changes the positioning script. Selling a project as a point on a corridor that is being born is stronger than presenting one more building facing the sea. The brand that tells the story of the connection, not only of the unit, occupies a space competitors have left empty.
There is an important brand caution. An announced project is not a delivered project. Mobility schedules slip, and treating 2031 as if it were tomorrow erodes trust. Honest positioning presents infrastructure as a medium term appreciation thesis, with clear sources and dates, never as a closed promise.
The practical read
The luxury map of Santa Catarina's coast is moving from a logic based only on the waterfront to a logic based on the corridor. For those developing product, it is worth mapping the land along Via Mar and around the tunnel before the price has already absorbed the work. For those managing the brand, it is worth building the connectivity narrative now, supported by verifiable data, instead of repeating the price per square meter pitch everyone already uses. The view sells the apartment. The connection sells the region, and it is the region that sustains the price over the long term.
