RAMÓN ROUX Director General of CB Richard Ellis

CB Richard Ellis provide first-time investors and buyers with local knowledge and global experience

PANAMA’s fastest growing sector is real estate. A long-established shipping hub and offshore banking center for the Americas, Panama is now in the midst of a building boom on a scale unmatched since the construction of the canal began in 1914. Only two hours by plane from the U.S. mainland, it is luring retirees, baby boomers and investors worldwide with its dollar economy, democratic government, and recently confirmed plans to double the capacity of its economic lifeline – the Panama Canal.

Panama has been rated by International Living Magazine, the New York Times and Modern Maturity – the magazine of the American Association of Retired Persons, which has a readership of some 30 million – as one of the world’s top retirement destinations. In the United States alone, some 80 million baby boomers will retire over the next decade, with around 5 percent relocating to areas such as Panama.

Guiding overseas investors entering the market are leading global property experts CB Richard Ellis. “Foreign interest is growing day by day,” says Director General Ramón Roux, who established the Panama office six years ago. “Panama’s real estate industry now has an international market, which began to discover the country five years ago but has really taken off in the past two years. Currently, the primary market is the United States, but Spain and Venezuela, among others, are beginning to participate at a significant level.”

CB Richard Ellis offers extensive financial and transactional services. “We become strategic partners, which is totally different from developing our own projects, and represent clients in the commercialization of their projects or the buying and selling of real estate,” explains Roux. “In residential projects, we provide market studies and advice on sales and rental prices, as well as handling all the marketing and sales. Commercially, we support the client all the way from portfolio analysis to disposal of assets, and can evaluate an individual real estate strategy for each client according to each need.”