| |
Trump chooses Panama City for $220 million project
Panama City, Panama, Real Estate Boom
Copa Airlines "Panorama" Magazine, August 06
The announcement sounded like a trumpet call to the North American real estate industry: Donald Trump, famous American businessman, will build The Trump Ocean Club, International Hotel and Tower in Panama, a 62-story complex valued at US$220 million, to be ready by 2009. The news, made public last April, was the icing on a process that started, in an incipient manner, towards the end of the 1990s.
At that time, the future did not seem so rosy for the Panamanian real estate industry. Elda Sanson, president of the Association of Real Estate Agents ("Asociacion de Comdores de Bienes Raices IACO-BIR") of Panama, remembers it this way: "With the withdrawal of the American troops, a void was created in the Panamanian real estate market. There were 3,000 American soldiers living in Panama City and 4,000 more were lodged at their military installations. We had to go out and search for replacements for this clientele. "
Now, the panorama has turned 180° and could not be more promising. The numbers are big, if one takes into consideration the size of the country. In the Panamanian capital alone, there are at present 190 condominium projects being built. The funds invested in the construction industry in Panama City during 2005 amounted to US$556 million, in contrast with the US$240 million injected into this sector of industry in 2004. By March 2006, the funds earmarked for construction, additions or repairs were already approaching US$203 million.
"Since last year we have been living an unreal situation; everything coming to the market is sold", stresses Sanson. For the past three years, Panama's name has been positioned on top at international real estate fairs and publications dedicated to promoting destinations for retirees and pensioners, among them the Madrid Real Estate Salon ("Salon Inmobiliario de Madrid/ SIMA"), which is one of the largest events of this industry, and the biggest one in Europe.
Why is Panama attracting such high levels of real estate investment ? According to Ruben Lachman, one of the country's most repected economists, various factors are interacting in synergy. "We have a developed banking center, we use the American dollar as our currency and nevertheless, our rate of inflation is less than that in the United States; the tax and tariff system is relatively low, if we compare it with the systems in place in other countries of the region. Furthermore, we have one of the most important airport hubs in the area, as well as the largest port system in Latin America, without taking into account the fact that the inter-oceanic canal will probably be widened. These factors are creating an environment propitious for economic growth which, together with our low inflation rate, creates a favorable climate forinvesting and living", he finally stated.
Ausberto Rosas, an attorney specializing in real estate law services, agrees with this assertion. "Many of these factors as well as the incentive laws have been in place since the 1980s, but the political situation at that time did not propitiate the development of the right climate for them to be effective.
Source:
Copa Airlines "Panorama" Magazine, August 06
Printer Friendly Version | Back to Article List
|
