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Will Panama Live Up To All The Hype?

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Written by Matt Landau

Tuesday, February 20 2007

The following is an article of ours on Panama Real Estate recently featured in Costa Rica's Tico Times: (PANAMA CITY, PANAMA) FOR YEARS NOW, Costa Rica has retained an exotic and unrivaled growth in Central America as the region's top eco-destination. Luxury rainforest resorts and stunning oceanfront real estate became something that characterized the nation and set it apart from its neighbors. Now though Panama, with its equally-impressive natural environment and groundbreaking real estate boom, is making for tough competition.

Visitors of both countries are comparing today's young and explosive scene in Panama to that of Costa Rica in the 1980's, when luxury hotels, adventure tour companies, and real estate moguls had not quite yet caught on. Contrary to Costa Rica though, Panama appears to be better equipped and far more prepared to handle this boom. Its dollar-economy, international banking history, and rich indigenous culture are the kind of facets that could push this tourism thrust over the top.

Panama's impressive infrastructure is drawing more and more visitors away from Costa Rica and the United States everyday. It can all be summed up in an image of the capital City's skyline, where construction cranes for new apartment buildings dot almost every hundred yards. Condominiums in the city range from $100,000 to $1,000,000, the average three bedroom apartment, with ocean or city views costing about a third of its counterpart in Miami, FL. From the ever-trendy Trump Tower in Panama City's Punta Pacifica neighborhood to what's destined to be the tallest building in Central America, Ice Tower, the country's real estate boom appears to be setting high standards.

Just an hour outside the City sits Panama's oldest beach town, Coronado where the real estate bug is just beginning to bite. Not unlike the Jaco Beach area just outside San Jose, mainstream condo projects, smelling of Waikiki are spidering outwards from Coronado to towns like Gorgona where oceanfront condos can be picked up for under $200,000. Nearby, residential communities with private beach clubs and accessible shopping centers are offering pre-construction houses for as little as $110,000. Visiting these towns, it becomes clear that the supply for product is far below the demand and for that reason, prices continue to appreciate at paranormal rates.

Venturing further along Panama's Pacific coast to the west, you'll across what many consider to be Panama's final high-end tourism frontier, the Azuero Peninsula. The Peninsula is characterized by rolling hills, jagged cliffs, and some of the most spectacular island-studded beaches in the country. Often compared to the Guanacaste region, the Azuero Peninsula is a place of unrefined beauty, but unlike Costa Rica, buying property here doesn't burn a radioactive hole in your bank account. A 123-acre ocean view lot in Azuero, for example, runs about $13,000 per acre whereas its equivalent on the Nicoya Peninsula is just over $30,000. It's no wonder why Costa Rica's outpriced vacationers, the ones who wish they had arrived twenty years ago, are now looking to Panama for answers.

Will Panama live up to all the hype? Who knows. Chances are it won't be nearly as successful or prolonged as all the brokers and agents say it will, but just when the so-called boom will sink is hard to tell. The good news is that if you're investing and cashing out in the next few years, at least you won't lose money.

The isthmus of Panama has worked hard over the past decade to rid itself of the Noriega stigma that so many people still blindly refer to. The government has cleaned up its act, personal safety in the country is better than ever, and the expansion of the Panama Canal as well as a new seat on the UN Security Council will be drawing more international attention than ever—a watchdog-like effect that is sure to encourage good behavior. Everything seems to be pointing in the right direction for Panama investors, the cleverest of which have already reserved their spot. Now though, the country and its people seem to be content, keeping their secret quiet for as long as it lasts.

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Last Updated ( Friday, May 04 2007 )

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