I was speaking to my mother who hasn't been back to Panama since we left in 1983. I was 5 and she was 26. She flipped out when I told what the prices of homes were in Chiriqui. As I thought about it I can agree that yes the inflation and RE bubble is ridiculous in Panama, especially Boquete. I'm planning to move back myself but how would I be able to afford a house for my family of five!
These gringos are crazy asking 700K, 800k and 900k even some 1-2 million for a 3 bed /3 bath home!
I live in California and for that price we can buy a ranch and on two acres with American building standards! Just wanted to vent and how crazy the prices are. I am sure my local friends are not too happy about it either. Are any of these over priced homes even selling?
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No, it is much less expensive than Maui or La Jolla, where there is even more demand and less supply of open land and available homes.
Saying that Boquete is higher priced because there is more demand to live here has nothing at all to do with boosting Boquete.
People from elsewhere come here and tend to presume that things work the same. That is often a mistake. In real estate it can be a dangerous mistake.
There is no market data here.
There are opinions.
There is no MLS in Panama. Different real estate companies may try to sell the same house with different asking prices and it is possible that now all of them have a contract with the owner.
In my experience, there are opportunities to buy at a more reasonable price here. For example, many foreigners leave sooner or later. They often want to move and sell and not hold on waiting for a buyer or risking that a renter neglect or trashes their largest investment.
Motivated sellers usually accept the lowest prices. There are motivated sellers here as there are , from time to time,in most places. But the prices here are still unlikely to be as cheap in the town of Boquete as in some place with worse infrastructure, fewer services and an uncomfortable climate.
Why are properties more expensive on the beach at La Jolla than in Chula Vista?
Why are prices of a home higher in Hawaii than in Yankton, SD?
Prices are higher in Boquete because more people want to live here.
If someone's goal is to live cheaply, they don't look at beachfront on Maui and they look at Nicaragua, not Boquete... if they know what they are doing.
Boquete's housing prices are NOT a bubble driven by the usual culprits of speculation, minuscule interest rates, and easy credit.
Just remember that there was a time when you could buy 75c beers in Panama city, eat at Manolo's for 6$, when just having a car was seen as a luxury...
RE is probably the sector where prices rose the most slowly, especially if he building costs are taken into consideration, they have doubled. I built when the basic worker was asking 13$ a day...try to find one today.
Now, there is a home available in Santa Lucia (in the part with water), a nice one with 4 bed/3 baths, on a nice lot (1000m²), that is for sale for less than 170.000...if any is interested?
The realtors aren't very happy because more people are renting,
Many Panamanian's set their price for land and don't reduce the price even if it doesn't sell for years,
The highway to Panama is still under construction (a negative) but it will soon be finished (a positive)
The airport in David is slowly adjusting to its expansion (future unknown) and
David is exploding in this direction
Anyone have a crystal ball?
I sure don't have a crystal ball, but my feeling is that prices have bottomed out already even though sales haven't started climbing. The really good deals are gone before anyone even knew they were for sale. Generally, waiting for a better deal is just going to make buying more expensive.
Good points Jim. I am still not clear why Boquete has a four lane highway to David but it is bringing a lot of new commuters. People who can now live in a cooler climate and commute to David for work. Much of the real estate being sold in this District is going to Panamanians not North Americans.
Need to listen to all the horror stories of Gringos building a house. 3 different prices, one before construction starts, one while it is being built and the last and not least the one when finished.
That is correct.
Bagged concrete is not used here, yet. I have seen in the last 10 years the cement companies try to market this "ready to use - just add water" concrete. Some people still prefer to use the old fashioned, traditional, labor intensive method of producing "in house: concrete.
They buy the cement bags, the bags of sand and the bags of gravel and mix them up with s small concrete mixer. The mix ratio of cement, sand and gravel depends on the desired mix and strength that is stated by the person in charge of the project. This method is for small projects. Big projects buy the concrete for the ready mix plants with all the specs, admixtures and specs stated by the design.
Not really. I've never seen anyone buy bags of sand & gravel here in Volcan - usually the sand & gravel is bought in bulk - anywhere from a couple yards to dump truck loads. Concrete block, filled with re-bar & mixed concrete.
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