Panama is at the top of our list for the most secure, diverse and promising real estate destination in the region.

Security - Panama provides real estate investors with a strong sense of security based on its dollar based economy; stable political situation; transoceanic Canal, and its standing as a regional headquarters for many multinational corporations.

Panama has established a facilitative taxation framework to encourage foreign investment.  For example there are no real estate taxes for twenty years on any new construction and the tourism master plan exempts tourism related businesses from income or capital gains taxes for twenty years and allows the importation of a wide variety of goods duty free.  Financing on real estate purchases is more widely available than in other Central American countries given Panama’s position as a international banking centre.

Diversity - Panama combines a sense of the first world with an experience of the exotic. Within its borders visitors and investors can enjoy a Miami style capital city, tropical rainforests, beautiful mountain refuges, Caribbean-style beaches, living Indian cultures, historical sites as well as the Panama Canal, an 8th Wonder of the World.  Own an apartment in the rapidly growing Panama City, a villa in a private residential community in the mountains, a lot on the Caribbean or surf real estate on the Pacific.

Panama city skyline

Promise - In many areas, particularly outside Panama city itself, the real estate market is still at an early stage of a typical development cycle.  Here high levels of capital appreciation are possible - within a relatively low risk environment.  Elsewhere, in more mature markets, such as Panama city and Bocas del Toro, for example, the value proposition is less favorable than in the past, although investors can draw comfort from the fact that the positive price trend is well established. 

During the past several years, Panama has been consistently rated by a wide range of commentators in the top ten for the best retirement locations worldwide. A strong tourism and retirement trend is fuelling increased interest in real estate in Panama.  As with elsewhere in the region, tourism and real estate are inexorably linked and this trend bodes well for the Panamanian property market.