Blue Ceviche

Yes, with the same rights as a Panamanian over titled property. The one constitutional restriction is land within 10 kilometres of an international land border, and it is the land border with Costa Rica or Colombia, not the coast. Los Santos is nowhere near either, so it does not apply to Playa Venao or Pedasí.

No. On the Pacific coast the public strip runs 22 metres inland from the high-tide line and cannot be titled at all. Titling begins at 22 m and runs to 200 m. Coastal developments carry a legal obligation to provide public beach access, enforced with fines of B/.1,000 to B/.100,000. A project can be secluded and hard to reach. It cannot be legally private, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling you something that does not exist.

Derecho posesorio is possession of State land, not ownership. It produces no title certificate in the Registro Público, which is precisely what a mortgage and the investor visa both require. On the Azuero coast this distinction decides whether a property is financeable and cleanly resaleable, so confirm which one you are buying before anything else.

The seller. Transfer tax is 2% (ITBI), plus a 3% advance on income tax or 10% on the actual capital gain. Both receipts have to appear in the deed or the Registro Público will not inscribe the transfer. Notary and legal fees are separate and are not set by any published official scale, so treat any quoted closing-cost percentage as an estimate rather than a rate.

The widely-quoted exemption up to B/.120,000 applies only to property elected as patrimonio familiar tributario or vivienda principal. A non-resident's beach house is not that: it starts at B/.30,000 of cadastral value and runs at 0.60%, 0.80% and 1.00% by band.

No. That exoneration is closed. It survives only where it was already in force at 31 December 2018 and the construction permit issued before 1 January 2019. The only general new-build relief now is three years, first home only, on cadastral values between B/.120,000 and B/.300,000. If a seller quotes you twenty years, ask for the permit date.

The Qualified Investor permit requires a real-estate investment from B/.300,000. The operative text carries no expiry date, despite frequent claims that the figure reverts. It also allows pre-construction routes through an escrow deposit or full payment backed by an annually renewed bank guarantee. Separately, the Pensionado visa needs a lifetime pension of B/.1,000 per month plus B/.250 per dependant, dropping to B/.750 if you personally bought property over B/.100,000.

Yes. The 45-day minimum-stay prohibition that people cite applies only in the distrito de Panamá and only to operators without an ATP permit; it has no application in Los Santos. Tourist accommodation is subject to 10% ITBMS, and anyone grossing under B/.36,000 a year is not an ITBMS taxpayer at all.

Not on preferential terms. The preferential-interest regime was replaced by Ley 468 de 2025, in force since 1 January 2026: capped at B/.120,000, new principal and habitual residence only, land without improvements excluded. A beach or second home falls outside it, and published loan-to-value for that category runs 60–80% against 90–98% for a primary residence. No Panamanian bank publishes a non-resident LTV, so any figure you are quoted needs to come from the bank in writing.