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Return To Previous Page What the Press is Saying About Panama
View more articles on Panama and read what USA Today is saying about the Panama Real Estate Market.
Panama is Paradise for Retirees
Panama is one of the best places in the world for retirees today, combining a low cost of living, near-perfect weather and one of the world's best discount programs for retirees, with up to 50% off everything from public transport to movies, mortgage rates, doctor's visits, electricity, restaurants and airfares. Read More...
International Living, MSN News, July 2007
Panama Ranks #1 as the Most Globalized Country in Latin America
The Latin Business Chronicle has announced the results of its 2006 Latin American Globalization Index. It is no surprise to us that Panama earned the Number One position. Even though it earned the top position last year, Panama actually improved its score in this year’s ranking.
International Living, November 2006
 | Celebrity property tycoon Donald Trump plans a joint venture to build a 65-story complex in Panama City as developers ride a wave of excitement generated by a proposed Panama Canal expansion. “Right now we have a booming baby boom market from the U.S and Canada, with retirees and investors looking for new locations,"
Panama retirement, Reuters: Donald Trump |
Panamanians Vote To Expand Canal...
Panamanians overwhelmingly endorsed a plan to modernize the country's aging canal, won over by government arguments that the $5.25 billion project would generate jobs and keep the canal relevant for future generations.
The New York Times, October 2006
With low housing and living costs, a stable political environment, relatively safe streets and that tropical climate, people in their 50’s and earl 60’s are flocking to the Central American action rather than working for a few more years to scrape together enough money for a condo on the Florida coast. “We’re seeing a significant number of Americans coming here to retire”, said William Ostick, a spokesman for the United States Embassy in Panama City. Mr. Ostick said the embassy did not keep statistics on Americans who have moved to Panama to retire, but he said there were 25,000 to 30,000 Americans living there.
New York Times, April 2006
Panama retirement: Panama may be Central America's Hottest New Real Estate Market. "Get Ahead of the Game. Invest in Panama."
Robb Report Vacation Homes Magazine, Winter 2006 Middle Ground: Panama May be Central American’s Hottest Real Estate Market
For anyone who envisions Panama as a sleepy bucolic country, the first view of the capital city may come as a shock. The skyline of Panama City bristles with high rise business towers and residential condominiums. The countries reputation as a hot new destination is based as much on its capital’s high-energy urban lifestyle as on the beautiful beaches of its coast and its lush mountainous interior,
Robb Report, Winter 2006
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Paradise Found: Where to Retire Abroad
Panama - Selected as one of the top 5 places in the world for retirement living.
Fortune Magazine Retirement Guide, 2005
Continental Divide
When you get off the plane in Panama City, you have to decide just what it is you are looking form because Panama is full of possibilities. Panama is really three countries: glitzy, super modern Panama City; the cool, inscrutable, slow-moving interior (including jungle and cloud forest); and the varied, surfable, fishable land. Like so many places that are at the center of their geographical area, Panama is a dream factory. It is not a dull place of sure bets; it is not a super produced place, as Costa Rica has become. Many dreams have been made in panama and many shattered, but it is a country that has always offered infinite potential. Panama is an opening gambit, and it opens the traveler up.
Travel and Leisure, November 2005
The Spirit of the Isthmus
“Panama has one of the richest eco-systems on the planet. ‘It is a mecca for tropical research’, says Hector Guzman, a scientist stationed here with the Smithsonian tropical Research Institute at Naos Marine Laboratory. ‘All the theories of tropical evolution originate here.’ He tells me how 3 million years ago; North and South American were not attached by Central America. The Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean were one body. Panama used to be hundreds of tiny islands that came together through a geological process. ‘It all happened right here, Guzman says. For Tourists, this means more birds than Costa Rica, more sharks, more whales, and more coral reefs. The place is such an important ecological site that Frank Gehry has designed a museum to celebrate its biodiversity.”
New York Times, November 2005
Panama Naturally – Part Wild, Part Urban and Choc-Full of Life
“The trip proved better than I ever imagined. On my hike in Metropolitan Park (Rainforest Park in Panama City) which was spectacular despite my skidishness, I met a Florida family at the top of Cerro Mono Titi who helped change the course of my week. As I took in the summit sweeping views of city and jungle, I said to no one in particular, ‘There is so much more than rainforest…’ The teenage boy replied, ‘You just figured that out’. Panama is Central American’s southern most country. Its 9 provinces offer a diversity of landscapes, from banana plantations to coffee farms, coral reefs to mountainous highlands. Unlike Costa Rica, Panama has not yet become a price inflated eco-circus with billboards targeting tourists.”
Boston Globe, October 2005
“Panamanians joke that the McDonald’s franchises in glass skyscrapers make Panama City the ‘Miami of the South’, except that more English is spoken here but…about 6 years after United States troops pulled out of the country and ceded control of the Panama Canal, the city is asserting itself as a tourist destination, not just a scenic overpass for an engineered waterway.
Fashionable hotels now dot the cosmopolitan skyline. Crumbling colonial homes are being polished into bohemian gems. Emerald rainforest woo eco-tourists for now, anyway, Panama City has not been overrun by tourists.
New York Times, September 2005
Retiring in Panama
“The country has several things going for it that mesh with modern-day retirement plans. Panama has a reputation for being friendly and welcoming m, and Americans are not new to Panama…Retirees can choose among quiet beach communities on the Pacific Ocean, the urban and modern Panama City, tropical Caribbean island, or Panama s highlands where year around spring makes sweaters comfortable in the evenings,” The best thing about living in Panama is that I feel replaced and stress free her – beautiful scenery, climate and the people are so friendly” says Randy Moscorella formerly of Ojai, California. The frosting on the cake is an affordable cost of living and inexpensive real estate. “
Where to Retire Magazine, July 2005
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Panama retirement: Hot Times in Panama-16 Beautiful Untouched Islands and the most Beautiful Woman in the World
“Panama is one of the world’s rare places where in matter of hours you can go from the wild untamed nature of the Pacific Coast to laid-back influence of the Caribbean….The two coasts of Panama are different types of Paradise…The country is now considered “hot” from both an investment standpoint and for recreation. Retiring Americans are snapping up land and investment is taking place. From what I saw Panama stands poised to be the next Costa Rica."
Islands Magazine-Cover Story June 2005
How to Retire Abroad
“Americans are retiring in other countries where the prices are low and the living is easy. Hot spots like Costa Rica, Panama and Belize look like Florida circa 1970.”
Newsweek, March 2005
Beauty and Tax Breaks Lure Buyers to Panama
Little wonder that Panama is increasingly lighting up the radar screens of those searching for an affordable alternative to more traditional south-of-the-border retreats in Mexico, Costa Rica and the Caribbean, where escalating prices increasingly rival those along America's own beachfronts.
Touted as the "next Costa Rica" by travel magazines and newsletters like International Living, Panama is undergoing a land rush as its Tocumen Airport fills with planeloads of eager foreigners with cash in hand.
Yet despite the price increases, property here remains a fraction of what one would pay for similar real estate in the United States. And with enticements like a 20-year suspension of property taxes to those who build houses or renovate in a historic district, and an income tax hiatus for those starting some small businesses, the opportunities are appealing not only for those seeking a place to retire but also for entrepreneurs.
At least that is what Douglas Lonneker, 39, and Gloria Esguerra, 28, are counting on. Eager to spend a few years in a foreign country before their 2-year-old child is old enough to go to school, the couple recently bought, as an investment, development property in the western highlands near Boquete and in Bocas Del Toro along the Caribbean Coast, as well as an apartment in downtown Panama City, where they plan to live full-time. A real estate investor and stock market trader, Mr. Lonneker was attracted by Panama City's thriving business community, including more than 100 international banks and a tax-free manufacturing zone, as well as a technological sophistication, including high-speed Internet service in his new apartment. "Everything works," he said. "And because it's a financial center for Latin America, it's easy to establish banking relationships and locate money managers and accountants. You don't get that in places like Costa Rica."
Then, of course, there is the lure of Panama City's urban lifestyle, including a young, hip population and a bevy of good restaurants, bars and nightlife.
New York Times, February 2005
In Panama, American Retirees Finding More Paradise for Less.
Boquete, Panama
“Golf course manager John Sutton had enough of lawyers, telemarketers and the US government. So the San Diegan and his wife took early retirement, sold everything they owned and moved to Panama. The Suttons, who bought a house here last summer, exemplify the wave of American retires who want to get away from it all – far, far, away. Each month, about 20 mew ones turn up in the remote coffee-growing town in the mountains of western Panama, buying houses and starting new lives. It is the latest hot spot in Central American. ‘Boquete gave us the opportunity to have a great, comfortable lifestyle,’ said Sutton, 50. Other US retirees are making similar moves, attracted by Panamas favorable tax treatment of foreigners, the relatively low cost of living, the lush surrounding and the eternally mild climate.”
Los Angeles Times, February 2005
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