Notas desde el istmo.
Mercado, zonas, inversión y vida cotidiana en Panamá. Sin postales: datos verificados, voces honestas y la lentitud necesaria para entender un país.
Panama's construction permits jumped 36% in Q1 — and the sector remains 44% below 2023
CAPAC says Q1 2026 permits rose 36.3% year-over-year, but cumulative activity is still 44% below 2023. For metro Panama City buyers, the new-build pipeline tells a more nuanced story than the headline.
Costa del Este: Panama City's planned-suburb experiment, a generation on
Built on reclaimed coastline in the mid-1990s, Costa del Este answered one question well. The harder question is whether a neighborhood designed for the 1997 international family keeps absorbing the buyer of 2026.
How property is held in Panama: direct title, corporations, fideicomisos and foreign LLCs
Most foreign buyers default to titling Panama property in their personal name. The other three structures available each trade a different set of costs for a different set of protections.
Panama's Economic Substance bill reached the Assembly floor. Metro property has more at stake than most assume.
On May 11 the National Assembly opened debate on the bill that conditions Panama's path off the EU's tax-jurisdiction list. The implications for Costa del Este, Punta Pacífica and foreign-buyer banking are concrete.
Panama's sovereign spread just hit a five-year low. The property market hasn't fully caught up.
Country risk dropped 190 basis points in two years, but mortgage rates and foreign-buyer compliance friction have barely moved. What the gap means for Panama City real estate.