Buyers spend months on the purchase price and about five minutes on the monthly cost. Then the first building fee arrives. In a Panama City tower with a pool, a gym, lounges and full security, that fee is a real number, and it is charged every month whether you are in the country or not.
Here is what owning an apartment in Panama City, Panama actually costs you each month, from the side we see it: we manage properties for owners, so we pay these bills on their behalf.
The four costs
- The building fee. Monthly, unavoidable, and the biggest surprise.
- Utilities. Electricity, water, gas, internet.
- Insurance.
- Property tax.
Add management if you live abroad, and repairs, which arrive on their own schedule and always arrive.
The building fee, and why it varies so much
Every tower charges a monthly fee for the common areas: security, cleaning, lift maintenance, and the amenities. The more a building offers, the more it costs to run, and the fee follows.
This produces a result that catches buyers out. A cheaper apartment in a fancier building can cost you more every month than a more expensive one next door. The purchase price and the running cost are two separate decisions, and only one of them shows up in the listing.
Before you buy, ask three things: the current monthly fee for that specific unit, what it covers, and whether the building has any special assessment coming. Buildings do occasionally levy a one-off charge for major work. You want to know about that before you own a share of it.
We will not publish a table of fees by building, because they change and because a number we quote today becomes a number someone budgets against next year. We get the current figure for the actual unit you are looking at.
Electricity is the whole conversation
Air conditioning is most of a Panama City electricity bill. Everything else is a rounding error next to it.
Which means the bill depends on the apartment more than on the person. A unit with a wall of glass facing the afternoon sun costs far more to keep comfortable than a smaller one with shade or a good orientation. Two apartments of the same size in the same city can be very different to run.
When you view a place, notice which way it faces and how much glass it has. That is a monthly cost you are buying, permanently.
Property tax, and why we send you elsewhere
Property tax exists in Panama. The rules depend on the value of the property and on exemptions, and they have changed.
We do not quote tax figures. A wrong number here is expensive, and we only publish numbers we know first hand. Your lawyer or your accountant gives you the figure for your specific property, and they should do it before you buy, as part of the same conversation as the title check.
Ask them for it in writing alongside the transfer and registration costs. Then you have the full picture in one place.
The costs of an empty apartment
An apartment nobody lives in still costs money every month. The fee is charged. The tax is charged. Insurance runs.
An empty apartment also deteriorates faster than people expect in this climate. Closed up with no air moving, humidity does the damage. Someone should be going in.
This is the real argument for renting it out if you are not using it, and it is why so many of the owners we work with do.
If you live abroad
Someone has to receive the bills, pay them, let the technician in, and deal with the building administration. That is a person, and if it is not you it is a cost.
We manage properties for owners who live in another country: placing and screening tenants, utilities, repairs, the tenant relationship and clear accounts. We quote it per property, because what an owner needs varies a lot. There is no published rate.
Our page for property owners covers what is included, and there is more in our guide to renting out your Panama apartment while you live abroad.
Work out the monthly number before you buy
Write down the building fee, an estimate for electricity based on the size and the orientation, water, gas, internet, insurance, the tax figure from your accountant, and management if you need it.
That total is what owning the place costs you. Compare that between two apartments, alongside the purchase price. People who do this stop comparing the wrong two numbers, and occasionally change which apartment they buy.
Frequently asked questions
What owners and buyers ask us about running costs.
Four things: the building fee, utilities, insurance and property tax. The building fee is the one that surprises people, because it is charged every month whether you are in the country or not.
Security, cleaning and maintenance of the common areas, and the amenities: pool, gym, lounges, lifts. The more amenities a building has, the higher the fee. This is why a cheaper apartment in a fancier building can cost more every month than a more expensive one next door.
Air conditioning is the whole bill. A unit with a lot of glass facing the sun, run cold all day, costs far more to keep comfortable than a smaller one with shade, and it is the single biggest variable between two apartments of the same size.
Property tax exists and the rules depend on the value of the property and on exemptions that change. Your lawyer or accountant should give you the number for your specific property before you buy. We do not quote tax figures, because a wrong one is expensive.
It depends on the property and what you need, so we quote it per case. There is no published rate. What management covers is on our page for owners: placing and screening tenants, utilities, repairs, the tenant relationship and clear accounts.
Ask us before you buy, not after
Send us the unit you are looking at and we will get you the current building fee, tell you what it covers, and give you our honest view of what it will cost to run and what it would rent for.
