Avenida Balboa Panama

Avenida Balboa Panama is the oceanfront avenue in the heart of Panama City. Some of you may remember that we published findings of a pricing-trend study we commissioned for the Avenida Balboa district. This is a follow up to that report.

Avenida Balboa Panama developers published pricing on their yet-to-be-delivered condo units along Avenida Balboa. This showed that they have come down under 5% over the last 10 months. According to interviews with agents representing Habitats Realty, Bern, Btesh and Virzi, and Cityland, buyers are still coming in from places like Russia, Europe, and of course Venezuela. However, demand from the North American market has slowed down.

View Avenida Balboa Panama real estate listings

Rivage, Waters, White, Arts Tower, Yoo, and Villa del Mar show anywhere from 60-95% of the units as marked “Sold or Reserved”. The important question, which only time will tell, is how many of the buyers are prepared to close.

We have started what may be Panama’s first shared MLS, designed in-house to capture sales data from fellow brokers. In addition, we gather data by canvassing buildings, interviewing developers, and compiling listing data online. Think of this as a compiled and shared sales history from Panama’s top-selling agencies.

Over 450 units on Avenida Balboa have been delivered in the last 12 months. This represents a 32% increase in total constructed inventory.

Avenida Balboa Real Estate Trends

The noise situation has improved significantly along Avenida Balboa. But with the phase-in of the new buses, Panama is and will remain a very noisy city.

Temporary fire sales in buildings such as H2O, Element, and Sky lasted less than 45 days. During that time, we were seeing sellers unload units for an average of $1,800 per square meter which usually represented a loss for them. These types of deals are no longer available, as all the desperate sellers have been flushed out. Keep an eye out for potential deals in the next projects to get delivered. These are WHITE and WATERS, both due for completion between the 3rd and 4th quarter of this year.

The average price per square meter in a building less than five years old has seen a 9% price reduction in the last ten months. From $2,320 to $2,097 per square meter.

Rental demand for high end, fully furnished two-bedroom units like Sky, Destiny, and H20 remains strong. The average days on the market for a competitively priced unit ($2,000/month or less) are less than 30 days.