Brax Research · Live price index · updated October 7, 2026

Panama price per m², by zone

Price per m²PanamaLive index

Short answer: In October 2026, Panama City apartments close at about $1,780 to $2,990 per m² built depending on the barrio (Santa María highest, El Cangrejo lowest of the four). Land runs from about $47 per m² in the Altos de María highlands to about $100 in Playa Venao, but land and built prices are not comparable, so this page keeps them apart.

A moving comparable-market view: price ranges by zone and product, each with its date, source and whether it is a closing or an asking price. Closings come from the public registry via lakilé; everywhere else we only have listings, and we say so. Brax sells Altos de María, so that row carries our interest.

By Brax Research · Registry data: lakilé · Listings: Encuentra24 · Next update: January 2027

Built m²: apartments and houses

What buyers paid in four Panama City barrios (registry closings), plus two single-listing house prices outside the city for scale. Grey throughout: the highlight belongs to the land chart below.

Zone	Product	Metric	$ per m² built	Asking vs closing	Basis	Source
Santa María	Apartments, city	closing median	$2,993	+7.2% asking over closing	Registry closings, resale and new	lakilé, Santa María
Costa del Este	Apartments, city	closing median	$2,108	+12% asking over closing	Registry closings, all towers, 2025 base: 480 sales	lakilé, Costa del Este
Punta Pacífica	Apartments, city	closing median (resale)	$1,838	+22% asking over closing	Registry resale closings; lakilé’s Balboa report shows $1,764 for the same area	lakilé, Punta Pacífica
El Cangrejo	Apartments, city	closing median (owner to owner)	$1,777	+12% asking over closing	Registry closings, last 24 months	lakilé, El Cangrejo
Alto Boquete	New house, Grand Canyon project	asking, 1 listing	$1,503	not measured	$198,000 ÷ 131.7 m² built; listing of 8 Sep 2026	Encuentra24 #32096917
La Chorrera (El Espino)	Entry house, Senderos del Espino	asking, from-price	$1,090	not measured	$73,000 ÷ 67 m² built (Brax calculation); one project	Encuentra24 #32234257

Land m²: lots and parcels

Price per m² of land. Gold marks Brax’s own product. Do not compare these bars with the built-m² chart.

Zone	Product	Metric	$ per m² of land	Basis	Source
Altos de María	Mountain lot, 2,090–4,318 m²	starting price, Brax	$47	7 off-market lots; price per lot disclosed on registration	Brax, Altos de María
Playa Venao	Ocean-view lot, 900–2,000 m²	asking, 1 listing	$100	$90,000 for 900 m²; titled; listing of 3 Aug 2026	Encuentra24 #32790435
Boquete (El Francés)	Large parcels, 0.6–12 ha	asking, 1 listing	$12.5	$1.5M for 120,000 m²; listed at B/.13 per m² for 8 parcels; 21 Aug 2026	Encuentra24 #32199081

What has changed

Only dated, published figures go in this table. From here on, each quarter adds a snapshot, so zone-by-zone comparisons build over time.

Series	Before	Now	Change	Source
Santa María resale	$3,054 (H1-2025)	$2,691 (H1-2026)	−11.9%	lakilé, Santa María
Every zone above	—	Oct 2026 = first snapshot	next: Jan 2027	Brax

Altos de María: where it sits and what we do not claim

Altos de María lots start at about $47 per m². At that starting price, the seven lots (2,090 to 4,318 m²) would run roughly $98,000 to $203,000 each (Brax arithmetic; the final price per lot is disclosed on registration). It is land, not a built unit, in the highlands about 90 minutes from Panama City.

Visa: we do not claim these lots qualify for residency. Eligibility depends on the total registered value, the type of property and the rules in force, and needs a legal check. A single lot at the starting price sits well below the values usually discussed for investor residency, and the route that applies to real estate (secondary-market property) is a different product. Ask Proper Consulting before assuming.

Disclosure: Brax is paid on these lots, so this row is our own price, not a market observation.

How to read this page, and what it does not tell you. Closing prices are what buyers paid, taken from the public registry by lakilé. Asking prices are what sellers hope for. In the four city barrios asking runs 7% to 22% above closing, so a listing price overstates what a deal will cost. Outside the city we have no registry closings. The Venao, Boquete and La Chorrera figures are single listings, not medians, and one listing can sit far from the market. Boquete land alone spans from about $12.50 per m² on large parcels to far more on town lots. Treat these rows as pointers to ask about, not benchmarks. Land and built prices are different goods: $100 per m² of Venao land and $2,000 per m² of a finished apartment cannot be compared. Next steps: more listings per zone so rows become medians, Obarrio and Panamá Norte added, and a snapshot recorded each quarter. Brax is paid by developers on new units and on Altos de María, so verify any row with a second source.

Common questions

How much is a square metre in Panama City?

In registry closings, about $1,777 in El Cangrejo, $1,838 in Punta Pacífica (resale), $2,108 in Costa del Este and $2,993 in Santa María, per lakilé (2025 to mid-2026 data).

How much is land per m² in Playa Venao or Altos de María?

One Playa Venao listing asks $100 per m² (900 m², titled, August 2026). Altos de María lots start at about $47 per m² (Brax; price per lot disclosed on registration). Listings are asking prices, not closings.

Do Altos de María lots qualify for a Panama residency visa?

Brax does not claim they do. Eligibility depends on total registered value, property type and current rules, and needs a legal check with Proper Consulting.

How often is this page updated?

Quarterly. The next update is January 2027, and each update keeps the previous snapshot so changes by zone can be compared.

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