Is Panama Still A Great Place To Make Money In Real Estate?
(www.costaricapages.com) Panama has once again been chosen to top another list of great places to invest. This time it made the top spot for long-term investment along with - Albania. For a number of years now Panama has made the top spot in many lists including safety and investment.
Some of these lists have been proven to be fake. Often times lists are dreamed up by companies looking to further their own agenda. This most recent list was created by Property Wire, which bills itself as the premier global property news service.
What I found most interesting about the article was that one reason they give for placing Panama so high on the list is because property values have been growing at 25% per year. Does the author of this study honestly believe that amount of growth can continue indefinitely? Yes, property values have increased substantially over the past couple of years, but from what I’ve seen the ever increasing real estate prices have started to discourage people from investing here.
A condo that would have sold for $100,000 two years ago is now selling for double. That’s great news if you were one of the many early birds that took advantage of the rock bottom prices. It’s not such great news for the many, many people that bought later on in the game and now can’t sell their properties because there are so many on the market. Of course people are still buying properties in Panama, but the good old days of super cheap real estate are now over.
Panama was a property speculators dream a few years ago, now there are fewer areas of the country where you can find a great investment with the potential to make money on a flip. Panama City developers are still building high rise condos, but the market won’t be able to hang on forever. The Property Wire article mentions that more Americans buy a retirement home in Panama than anywhere else in the world. Have Panamanian developers heard there is a real estate and economic crisis currently taking place in the US? If a person can’t sell their home in the US, they probably can’t afford to buy a retirement property in Panama, but the skyline continues to expand.
Panama does have many great draws for foreign investors including the canal expansion, the official currency is the US dollar, Panama is one of the safest countries in Latin America, and of course the cost of living is less than in North America. These are all great reasons to visit, retire or buy a second home in Panama, but is Panama still a great option for long term investment? I suppose only time will tell.
