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 economic substance bill enters debate. What it means for foreign owners holding metro property through a sociedad anónima
The National Assembly opens debate May 19 on a bill that conditions tax treatment of passive foreign income on real economic presence in Panama. Foreign owners using anonymous corporations as personal holding vehicles sit close to the perimeter.
Casco Antiguo's restoration grammar: the rules that govern a 17th-century building's second life
Restoration in Panama City's UNESCO-listed historic district is not a renovation contract but a regulatory choreography. A field guide to the legal grammar that decides what a colonial shell in Casco Antiguo can — and cannot — become.
Costa del Este vs Casco Antiguo: how a foreign resident's week actually unfolds in each
The two neighborhoods are 12 km apart and inhabit different cities. A practical compare-contrast of how a foreign resident's day, errands and weekends actually shape up in each.
Panama City is hosting the World Free Zones Congress. The metro real estate question is what gets leased after the delegates leave.
The annual Congress brings 1,500 delegates from 93 countries to Panama City. For metropolitan property, the durable question is which corporate apartments and office floors get signed in the six months that follow.
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.