[New Video] Why Panama Is The Best Place To Invest In 2026

Intro

All right. We’re going to bring up Alexandra Brauer. She’s going to come up here and tell you just a little bit more about what’s going on in Panama and the market and just some interesting factoids about the economy.

So, Alexandra, that was on, I think. Yeah. Okay. Hey, good morning everyone. My name is Alexandra Brauer.

And I’m very happy to be here today and share some of the insights of Panama and our company.

Panama’s Economic Growth

So, now talking a little bit more about Panama. Why Panama now? The GDP growth of Panama 2025 was 4.2%. That’s an increase of 110% from 2024. So, we are an economy that’s growing. We’ve been growing for the last ten years, a constant growth and we are expected to grow in 2026 about 6%. So, it’s a very interesting perspective right now. The real estate market, the construction market is growing. There’s a lot of projects, developments that are being developed right now. And it has given a very interesting movement to the economy of Panama. We also have the transport and everything that has to do with logistics, especially the Panama Canal, that supports a lot this growth of the economy and the Panama Canal also has grown over the past year and constantly.

Hotels and restaurants. The last year was one of the best years for the hotel industry ever.

We had a boom in Panama a few years ago, and we didn’t reach the hotel occupancy that we reached last year. So, that talks a lot about the growth that Panama is experiencing, especially, the tourism sector is growing.

Panama is the Best Place to Retire

So, Panama has been ranked as one of the best places to retire. As mentioned before, Boquete, specifically was ranked as the best place to retire in the world. It’s a great place to retire.

There is a lot of positive things around Boquete, for example, well, the weather, we have a lot of tourism also that goes for, sightseeing, birdwatching, coffee. Geisha coffee was ranked number one and the most expensive coffee in the world.

And it’s located in Boquete, in one of the coffee farms in Boquete. That brings a lot of tourism.

So, we’ll, you know, we have the U.S. dollar economy. This is something that helps us a lot in the region. Well, we have a warm weather year-round.

The Weather in Panama

Weather here in Panama versus weather in Boquete, Playa Bonita, actually, it can vary.

Playa Bonita, well, you have the coastal breeze because it’s oceanfront. You have the beach, and you usually in the summers, if you go right now, you’re going to feel a very nice breeze in Playa Bonita. In Boquete, right now, it’s cooler.

So, if you go, you’re going to experience a nice, very cool weather, mountain weather and yeah, during mid-June, July then the weather is a little bit warmer, but it’s still always maintains like a cool very nice breeze. We have a low natural disaster exposures. Thank God.

Due to our location. Well, we don’t have many natural disasters. Earthquakes. Hurricanes. Well, we haven’t had those, I think hurricanes, never. And earthquakes. Maybe when the ones that are close to the area close to Costa Rica, there’s a little bit of, shakes a little bit sometimes. But we don’t have natural disasters here in Panama due to our location and how we are located.

Beach and Mountain: Panama Has it All

So, we have the benefit of having beach and mountain very nearby. If you want to go to Boquete, you just have to take a flight. It’s a 40 minute flight, and then you need a 30 minute drive, and you get to Boquete. And it’s the highest point of Panama where you have all the mountains and you have El Volcan Baru. Which many people used to do hiking because it’s the highest point of Panama. And, well, you have the beach just 15 minutes from the city center. Playa Bonita, it’s not the Caribbean beach, but if you want to go to the Caribbean and also experience some clear water and more Caribbean vibe, then it’s about a 30 to 40 minutes away. The first beach. So, it’s very near.

You can also take boats from Panama and go to the different islands.

The nearest island for tourism is Taboga, and you just have to take a boat here. You can take the boat at the Trump Tower and then it’s like a one-hour drive, a boat drive, and then you are at the first island where you can really go to restaurants.

There is a beach, you can go in the water. And many boats go there during the weekends and they do just a day drive to Taboga. And if you see, if you compare Panama versus the region,

Panama Stands Out in the Region

we have many, many positive things, many competitive areas. For example, the currency risk is a low currency risk, the legal certainty for foreign investors. We have multiple laws that benefit investors and expats. For example, the Same Law benefits them, international companies.

And that’s why we have all these big brands like Estee Lauder, Unilever, L’Oreal that have settled here in Panama with their headquarters for the region because they have so many legal benefits.

Our logistics and infrastructure is leading. We have first-class and first-world streets and infrastructure. We have our Metro, train, bridges, like first-class bridges. And that is very positive regarding if you compare it to the rest of the region. We have an investor-friendly tax framework. Taxes are actually very low compared to the region, also.

And global connectivity, we have connections to, we are the global hub of the Americas, and we have connections to 36 countries and 86 destinations worldwide. We have 370 daily flights with Copa Airlines. That’s our main airline here. And we created recently, we expanded our airport with a second terminal. And it’s Copa’s hub terminal of the America now.

How To Get Permanent Residency in Panama

We have other legal incentives, for example the permanent residency.

If you are not part of the friendly nations countries. Well, if you do an investment of $300,000, you can obtain the permanent residency in 30 days. So, you don’t have to pass through all the steps of getting a temporary residency. And then wait 2 or 3 years to get the permanent residency. You get it right away. And after that, you can get the passport, the citizenship.

So, this is a very interesting law. And looking at the branded residences

The Real Estate Trend in Panama

part here in Panama, and worldwide, this is one of the biggest trends worldwide in real estate right now and it’s branded residences. We always say you can have a local brand, for example, or you can have an international brand, and you can really see the difference from the Canadian, the U.S person, and from anyone from all over the world. They know Marriott, they know the brand, and they want to own something that gives them certainty, that gives them trust.

So, this market has been growing impressively in the last two years worldwide.

The Rental Market in Panama

And also another market trend that has been very popular in the last years is the short-term rentals and, we started seeing a movement in, well, worldwide and in Panama the other developers, they were like, this is interesting. This is starting to grow. So, we started seeing more projects with short-term rental. I don’t want to say permits because not necessarily all of them have the permits, but they were doing marketing of short-term rentals.

So, what makes our projects different from the other short-term rental projects in Panama, or most of them, is that we have the legal permits of the Ministry of Tourism to properly rent those units for short-term rentals. We have a law that doesn’t allow short-term rentals or rentals for less than 45 days in the City of Panama.

So, if you are a developer that is offering short-term rentals for less than 45 days, you need to have the permits. That is very important.

Key Takeaways

I just wanted to give you some key takeaways. So, in conclusion, Panama offers a stable, investor-friendly environment. I strongly, strongly recommend for you to visit Playa Bonita and Boquete if you have the time. It’s very different, but both are very attractive places in the city right now and there’s a big opportunity for investors if they want to see the growth over time in that area. Panama is ranked number one place to retire worldwide and Boquete especially. Panama stands out if you compare it to the region.

And well, this again is very important to take away because if you have an investor looking to invest in the region, they will compare, they will see all their options and they will probably end up buying in Panama. So, that gives you the certainty that you will have a very secure property. And, well, if you’re looking for permanent residency with this special law, well, you just have to do an investment of $300,000 and you have your permanent residency in Panama. Okay, well, that’s all for me today. Thank you very much.