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Hats Off To Panama’s Pound Stretching Property Potential!
February 9, 2009Article by Ray Withers
If you’re investing in property looking towards your retirement, then you need to know about the unique Panama ‘pensionado’ designed to make living, investing and retiring to the country more than affordable for expats. The pensionado is a pound stretching exercise that gives Panama real estate a plus factor that few other countries can offer. To qualify, all you have to do is receive about £750 a month – or about £900 for a couple. The benefits are enormous as you become a Panamanian resident and effectively pick up a discount off just about everything for living there, including:
* Half price closing costs and other bonus payments for home loans re4lating to Panama property
* Discounted hotel, travel and are fares
* Up to 25% off restaurant bills
* Cut-price medical bills if no insurance applies
Add to that the excellent benefits of living in one of the world’s foremost tax havens hosting about 150 banks, then Panama as a financial investment has got to figure on any property person’s ‘must do’ lists. Panama is a small country joining South America to the Central American isthmus – famous, of course, for hats and the canal. It’s the extension of the canal that’s making investment sky-rocket in Panama as work is underway to upgrade the short-cut from the Pacific to the Atlantic. On the back of this development, Panama is also a US expat playground with more than 25,000 US citizens shunning their home to take up resident and millions more visiting for holidays.
Panama City, Panama, has the second highest hotel occupancy rate of any city in the world at 84.7% – just behind Perth, Australia. If you’re looking to cash in on the current and business and tourism boom, then look at Property Frontiers’ Nations Hotel, Panama City (), located in a key financial sector – Bella Vista – a hotspot for nightlife, shopping and restaurants. This five star hotel is a short walk from the ocean and harbour and will service international travellers and the business community. Nations Hotel will offer a range of rooms throughout its impressive 26 storey structure designed by renowned national architect Musa Asvat Kasu. Investors can choose between varying sizes of one bedroom hotel rooms and also one and two bedroom apartment units. Each room and unit comes with a unique furniture package while all rooms have ceilings of 10ft in height ensuring a spacious feel is maintained throughout the architecture. A one bedroom room starts from £95,245, with expected net yields in excess of 12%. Investors can buy from just £37,810 with a 60% loan-to-value mortgage.
Heavily influenced by the US, Panama’s currency is the US dollar, which is also a point of strength for considering investment. Predictions are Panama investment property is on the rise – with growth in line with Dubai five years ago – and plans for development and infrastructure are in place to for the country to continue to thriving.
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