If you’ve taken a trip to Cabo San Lucas recently, likely the only thing more striking than the dramatic coastal rock formations and long stretches of sandy beach, is the region’s construction boom. The area is already bustling with luxury hotels and numerous gated, second home communities where destination clubs have scooped up more than 60 residences, but unlike in the U.S., construction on this tip of Baja resort mecca isn’t showing any signs of a slowdown.

While U.S. home builders continue to wait out the struggling market stateside—housing starts, which reflect the pace of new home construction, are at the lowest level in 17 years—developers in Cabo San Lucas are diving into new projects like it’s Miami, circa 2003.

The 40-minute drive from the airport to the central tourist hub passes numerous construction sites, with developers adding more vacation homes, condominiums and resorts to the landscape. It’s not a skyline filled with construction cranes—much of the new building seems to be low-rise structures and homes—but the growth is palpable. Prime sites that don’t have new condominiums or homes already in the works are seemingly being primed for the start of construction.

Yesterday, luxury hotelier Raffles Hotels & Resorts announced that it would manage a new hotel in Los Cabos, the brand’s first hotel in Mexico. The Raffles Cabo San Cristobal will be set on 80 acres and have 130 hotel rooms along with several restaurants and a spa when it opens in 2011.

There’s no shortage of new vacation home communities in addition to the options already available at Esperanza and Palmilla, among others. Querencia, a new development selling a mix of home lots, custom residences, villas and condominiums, will have a Tom Fazio-designed golf course and a $150,000 golf membership fee to get access to it. Home sites of up to an acre range from $550,000 to $2 million, while condos start at $1.2 million. There is also Quivira Los Cabos, where Ritz-Carlton is plotting a residential community with a golf course, opening in 2009. Capella Pedregal is also opening in early 2009. The 24-acre project will have a hotel, fractional and whole ownership residences. Home prices top $3 million, while fractional shares start around $475,000.

The question remains: Is the Baja building boom immune to real estate buying waves in the U.S.? After all, many of these communities are counting on American buyers, those same vacationers who are starting to reel in their spending back at home. As home builders in the U.S. are learning now, they can build it, but the buyers don’t always come.

Are you looking for a vacation home in Mexico? What’s your take on the amount of construction in Cabo San Lucas?