Sep 12, 2019

A penthouse in Punta Pacifica, Panama City: residence in a fancy district

Are you looking for a second place of residence? If you are, buying a comfortable penthouse in Panama City in one of the Punta Pacifica skyscrapers will be the best choice.

Panama: a little paradise between two oceans

Panama is one of the countries where foreigners feel unconstrained and quite comfortable. The country’s legislation protects the rights of foreign residents in Panama as effectively as the rights of the natives.

There are certain restrictions, of course. For instance, foreigners in Panama are not allowed to engage in certain professions. They are also prohibited from buying property closer than ten miles to the national borders. But these are really small potatoes in comparison to what Panama has to offer to a well-to-do foreign national.

This is no news at all that a large number of people choose to relocate to Panama from the USA, Canada, Latin America, Great Britain, and other European countries.

The first things that catch the foreigner’s eye in Panama are the friendliness of the local people to outsiders, the warm Panamanian climate, and the abundance of lush tropical flora and fauna. Nearly anyone who visits Panama for the first time wants to come back again and enjoy the fantastic beaches and exotic tropical islands off its coasts.

Thanks to creating a comfortable environment for international businesses, Panama has been able to attract a large number of foreign investors. Many transnational companies have put their head offices there and brought huge amounts of money into the national economy.

The most significant advantage that Panama offers to international business companies is the territorial taxation system that it employs. With this system, foreign-sourced incomes are not taxed in Panama. If you establish a commercial enterprise in this country and obtain profit internationally, your profit tax will be 0% in Panama.

As a result of creating attractive conditions for foreign investors, Panama have turned into a large modern Latin American financial center over the last few decades. Its economic growth remains stable year after year and continues to surprise Panama’s neighbors as well as large states of the world.

Many international economic experts compare Panama’s development with that of Singapore around thirty years ago. The same bright future is prospected for the country.

The Panamanian visa programs briefly described below will provide for permanent legal residence in the country. All of them are residency-in-exchange-for-investment immigration programs, though, and they presuppose purchase of some real estate in Panama. For this reason, we would like to bring an exclusive piece of property in Panama City to your consideration.

Fancy Punta Pacifica district of Panama City

We invite you to consider the opportunity of buying a deluxe penthouse in the area of Panama City that is most popular with foreign residents in Panama – Punta Pacifica district.  

There are fifty-two skyscrapers in Panama City in total. Their height is between 150 and 284 meters (492 and 932 feet). Eighteen of those skyscrapers are located in Punta Pacifica including the tallest building in the country – JW Marriott Panama Tower that used to be known as Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower.

Punta Pacifica is a central district of the capital where plenty of luxurious housing options are to be found with the views of the Pacific Ocean and its shores. Tocumen international airport is located very close to the area. The Corredor Sur highway will take you there in no more than twenty minutes.  

All the infrastructure necessary for a comfortable living and recreation is in place: large trade centers that are open day and night, a yacht peer, top-notch restaurants, nightclubs, bars, sports and entertainment facilities, and so on. You will also find a great number of banks and business centers in Punta Pacifica.

A penthouse in Bahia Pacifica skyscraper

Bahia Pacifica residential estate is a forty-story building 185 meters (607 feet) high. It has a spacious lobby, first-class amenities that include round-the-clock concierge and security services, three high-speed elevators, back-up water reservoir, and electricity generator.  

An underground and an outdoor parking are at Bahia Pacifica residents’ disposal.

A social zone with swimming pools, Jacuzzis, a sauna, gyms, a squash court, and children’s playrooms occupies the first floors of the building. 

The total area of the penthouse for sale is 800 square meters (8,611 sq. ft.). Unlike with some other skyscrapers in Panama City, this building has only one penthouse. The area includes:

  • A large open terrace.
  • Four bedrooms with their own bathrooms and cloakrooms each. The master bedroom as two bathrooms attached. There is a possibility to divide it thus making a fifth bedroom that would have its own bathroom too.
  • A large entrance hall and a living room with a bar counter and a music center.
  • A home library with bookcases.
  • A kitchen dining room equipped with all necessary kitchen appliances and ‘Viking’ furniture.
  • Two guest rooms with a bathroom.
  • Two-mode (day/night) air conditioning system.
  • The height of the ceilings is 3.8 meters (12.5 feet).
  • Four parking lots are reserved for the penthouse owners in the underground car park. Besides, there is a relaxation room on the fifth floor for the penthouse residents’ personal chauffer.

The penthouse can be sold both furnished and unfurnished.

The price of the property without furniture is US$ 3,150,000.

The price of the property with furniture is US$ 3,280,000.

Another positive characteristic of this building is the fact that it was constructed in 2008. In accordance with Panamanian legislation, a new building remains property tax exempt for 20 years. Thus, you will not have to pay the property tax until 2028 if you purchase the penthouse that we are offering.  

One more nice change that was put into effect on January 1, 2019 is the new Law on Family Real Property. It sets a considerably higher worth of untaxable property in comparison to the previous version of this Law.

The penthouse on offer is the property of a Panamanian corporation. If you wish, the penthouse can be sold together with the corporation and you will receive the block of corporate stock.

We would like to make a special note and inform you that we have a back office in Panama City. Our real estate agents who are fluent in English have the most up-to-date information about the situation on the real estate market in the country, and our lawyers are knowledgeable about all the recent changes to the legislation in Panama.

If you apply for our services, you will receive the most thorough legal and financial advice. Please contact us via e-mail: [email protected] and we will consult you with great pleasure.

We also invite you to use the opportunity to go on a familiarization tour to Panama with us. Hardly anyone would relocate to another country without visiting it as a tourist first. We understand this very well and thus we are offering this service to you. Please apply for it to acquire first-hand experience of Panama.

What should you do to acquire residency in Panama?

If you are serious about finding a second place of residence for you and your family, and if you are looking for some new business opportunities, Panama can become your sweet home and simultaneously the best country to do business from.

Tax residency in Panama will allow lowering the risks for your international corporation and protecting your assets from encroachments of any kind.

As far as acquiring Panama residence is concerned, it is good to know that the Panamanian Government has developed a number of inviting visa programs that are aimed at attracting foreign capital to the country.

In exchange for investment, Panama offers residence permits to foreign nationals and even the possibility to become a full citizen of the country via naturalization. Some of the visa programs provide for the opportunity to apply for citizenship of Panama after five years of permanent residence in the country.

To begin with, you have to select the visa program that has the requirements you are able to meet. Probably, the easiest way to penetrate into Panama is by marrying a citizen of the country but let us consider some investment-based options instead.

Panama, just like all other national states that welcome immigrants, requires that the foreign national wishing to reside there should confirm his or her economic solvency.

For example, owning real property of a certain worth in Panama makes the foreigner qualified to apply for residency. It should be noted here that foreign nationals have the right to purchase and own any type of real property in Panama including land.

In order to buy property or apply for a permanent residence permit you have to hire a licensed Panamanian lawyer. The legislation requires that the lawyer act as the foreign national’s representative when communicating with state officials.

The visa program that any person from any country of the world will qualify for is the Economic Investor visa. The central requirement of this immigration program is that the applicant should invest minimum US$ 300,000 into Panamanian economy. The investment can be made by opening a bank account in Panama or by purchasing real estate in the country that costs at least as much. These two investment methods can also be combined.

Please note that the investment is not an ‘immigration fee’ at all. You can withdraw the money from your account after three years and you can sell the property back as well. If you do not do it before three years expire, you permanent residence permit will remain valid. Please read more about the Economic Investor visa program here.

There are two more Panama immigration programs popular with foreigners but these are designed for certain categories of people only.

The first such program is called Pensionado visa program. It will fit, first of all, pensioners from the countries that have hard currencies. The applicant has to prove to Panama immigration authorities that he or she has a guaranteed amenity of US$ 1,000 per month (or the equivalent in any other hard currency). This alone will make the applicant qualified for permanent residence in Panama.

However, if the program applicant purchases real estate in Panama that is worth US$ 100,000 or more, his or her guaranteed income has to amount to US$ 750 per month.

Even though this immigration program is aimed at North American and Western European retirees in the first place, actually anyone over 18 years old can apply for it. The central condition is the applicant’s ability to conclusively show to the authorities that he or she has a stable monthly income of a sufficient size. Please read more about the Pensionado visa program here.

The second popular Panama immigration program is called Friendly Nations visa program. Acquiring this type of visa will allow obtaining the permanent resident status faster than with any other Panamanian visa program. The investment requirements are also quite lenient. You have to put US$ 5,000 in the bank plus engage in some kind of economic activity in Panama or, alternatively, buy real estate in the country that is worth US$ 100,000 or more.

However, only the citizens of fifty world states are eligible to apply for a Friendly Nations visa. You can find the list of these states and read more about this visa program here.

There are other Panama immigration programs as well but the ones described above look most attractive. You have to realize, though, that all these visa programs are only Government decrees, not national laws. They are going to be in effect only until Panama needs large amounts of foreign investments.

The country’s economy is growing at an amazing pace and time will come when the immigration requirements are going to be toughened and some immigration programs may be simply dismantled. This clearly means that there is not much time to waste. If you are thinking of immigrating to Panama, you had better think fast and take the chances while they exists.

Probably, our free consultation will help you make up your mind faster. Please fill out the questionnaire and we will use your answers to select the best immigration variants for you. You are also welcome to send us any queries about Panama to [email protected]. Our managers who live in Panama City will be delighted to assist you in any way they can.