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.
71 of Panama's 81 districts grow without a territorial plan. For metro Panama City buyers, the boundary is part of the deal.
MIVIOT is spending more than $5 million to draft Planes de Ordenamiento Territorial for the districts where most growth around Panama City is happening. Where the planning line lands shapes risk, price, and what your property is allowed to become.
Panama City building permits jumped 31% year-over-year. The 15-agency approval maze is what's still capping supply.
Construction permit values in metropolitan Panama City climbed 31.2% in the first four months of 2026, reversing two consecutive years of decline. The supply response is real but uneven, and the bottleneck is procedural rather than financial.
Panama brings the IFC into its infrastructure pipeline. For metro Panama City buyers, three highway corridors are the test case.
On June 9, Panama's Cabinet authorized a framework with the World Bank's IFC to screen public-private partnership projects. Three of the highways in the pipeline shape metro property values.
Panama's preferential mortgage portfolio fell 34% in early 2026
Panama's state-subsidized housing finance pipeline contracted between January and April, the Superintendency of Banks reported. What the data signals for metropolitan demand and developer cash flow.
71 of Panama's 81 districts still grow without a territorial master plan. What that vacuum means for metropolitan buyers
MIVIOT's Vice Minister confirmed in June that only ten districts have an approved Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial. For buyers in metropolitan Panama City, that gap explains more than the unfamiliar skyline.
Real estate dominates Panama's consumer-complaint docket: what Acodeco's January–April 2026 data shows
Real estate accounted for roughly 70 cents of every dollar in formal consumer complaints filed with Panama's Acodeco through April 2026. A closer reading of the numbers.
Panama's construction permits rebounded 43.5% in early 2026. Housing registrations tell a different story
Permit values climbed to $417.2M through April. But housing registrations are down 46% on a two-year basis. The tension behind the headline recovery, and what it means for metropolitan supply.
Panama's mortgage credit contracted 23.5% in early 2026. What the Superintendency's data signals
Banks operating in Panama originated 23.5% fewer mortgages between January and April than in the same window last year. The headline aggregate hides the story.
The dollar question: what Panama's currency system means for non-USD buyers
Every apartment in metropolitan Panama City is priced, financed, and titled in US dollars. For buyers who earn in euros, pounds, or pesos, that single fact reshapes the deal — and the risk.
Three years into Panama's construction slump, the National Assembly convenes a tripartite table
Q1 2026 permits rose 36.3% year-over-year, but Panama's construction sector still sits 44.1% below Q1 2023. A tripartite table convened May 19 at the National Assembly. The supply-side picture for metro Panama City buyers.
Panama's proposed rail corridor lands its terminus in Albrook. The honest read for metropolitan property
Panama and Costa Rica signed a memorandum for a $4–5 billion regional rail corridor with its terminus at Albrook. What that does and does not yet change for metropolitan property buyers.
Panama's dollar regime, and what it does to a non-USD buyer's purchase
Every Panama City property is quoted in US dollars. For a buyer whose savings sit in euros, sterling or another currency, that single fact reshapes the economics of the purchase before any number is negotiated.