Are Panama City rents still rising?

How much have Panama City rents gone up in 2026?

About 9% on signed leases, and about 13.5% on ads. Both numbers point up, and the rise is faster than a year ago.

The best transaction data comes from ACOBIR, the brokers' association, which tracks leases closed through its MLS. Apartments rented that way averaged $12.57 per m² a month in the first half of 2026, against $11.54 a year earlier. That's an 8.9% increase.

The speed is the news. ACOBIR recorded $11.14 per m² in the first half of 2024, so signed rents rose only 3.6% the following year before jumping 8.9%. Panama City has gone from a slow recovery to a real upswing.

Ads tell an even hotter story. Encuentra24 data analyzed by Global Property Guide put the average apartment asking rent at about $14.70 per m² in June 2026, up 13.5% in a year. Houses rose almost as much, 13.2%, to about $9.12 per m².

Keep the two apart: 13.5% is what landlords ask in new ads, 8.9% is what tenants actually signed. ACOBIR's sample is small (102 leases in the first half of 2026), but it's the only one built on real contracts.

Panama City apartment rents	H1 2024	H1 2025	H1 2026	Latest change
ACOBIR signed rent per m²	$11.14	$11.54	$12.57	+8.9% YoY
Annual growth of signed rents	—	+3.6%	+8.9%	Speeding up
Encuentra24 asking rent per m² (June)	—	≈$12.95	$14.70	+13.5% YoY
Overall reading	Recovering	Rising slowly	Rising faster	Clear upswing

Why do Panama’s official rent numbers look almost flat?

Because they mostly measure what existing tenants pay, while the big increases happen when an apartment comes back on the market.

The gap is huge. Global Property Guide's reading of Panama's official rent-price series shows national rents down 0.27% in 2025, after a 0.63% rise in 2024. Quarterly changes have stayed within a few tenths of a point for years.

Meanwhile, new Panama City leases tracked by ACOBIR rose 8.9%, and asking rents rose 13.5%.

So a tenant who renews quietly in the same apartment may see almost no change, while someone looking for a similar unit today faces a very different market.

The numbers don't contradict each other. They measure different parts of the market: apartments that become available are being repriced hard, but not every household in Panama is paying 10% more.

Is this still just a rebound from the cheap pandemic years?

Not anymore. Rents first bounced back from very low levels, but they've now recovered the whole nominal drop of the last decade.

ACOBIR's longer series shows the cycle clearly. Signed apartment rents averaged $12.43 per m² in the second half of 2015, then fell to $8.21 in the first half of 2021, a drop of about 34%.

From that low, signed rents have climbed about 53% to $12.57 per m².

That puts Panama City slightly above its 2015 level in dollars. Adjusted for a decade of inflation, rents are still not at a record.

What changed is the speed. The easy part of the recovery happened years ago, yet rents sped up again in the latest 12 months. That's harder to call a simple return to normal.

ACOBIR signed apartment rent	Rent per m²	Change from 2021 low
H2 2015	$12.43	+51%
H1 2021	$8.21	—
H1 2024	$11.14	+36%
H1 2025	$11.54	+41%
H1 2026	$12.57	+53%

Are rents rising across Panama City or only in the expensive neighborhoods?

Across the city, though some areas move much faster than others.

ACOBIR's signed-lease data show San Francisco going from $11.52 to $12.73 per m² in a year, up 10.5%.

Bella Vista rose from $11.35 to $12.18, or 7.3%. Juan Díaz, which includes newer areas such as Costa del Este, went from $13.49 to $14.17, about 5%.

Three different submarkets rose at the same time: an established central area, another big central residential zone and a newer, pricier one.

The spread is too wide to treat the city average as a target for every landlord. A good unit in San Francisco has had twice the momentum of one in Juan Díaz.

Area	H1 2025 rent/m²	H1 2026 rent/m²	YoY change
San Francisco	$11.52	$12.73	+10.5%
Bella Vista	$11.35	$12.18	+7.3%
Juan Díaz	$13.49	$14.17	+5.0%
Panama City overall	$11.54	$12.57	+8.9%

Source for this table: ACOBIR Xposure MLS, signed apartment leases, first half of 2025 and 2026.

Are Panama City landlords asking for more than tenants will actually pay?

Yes. Asking rents are rising faster than signed rents, so many of the boldest ads end up negotiated down.

Encuentra24's average asking rent rose 13.5% in a year to about $14.70 per m². Signed MLS rents rose 8.9% over a similar period, to $12.57.

On a 100 m² apartment, that's about $1,470 asked against $1,257 signed, a gap of roughly $213 a month. The two datasets cover different units, so treat that as a guide, not a precise discount.

ACOBIR gives another check: rented apartments closed at about 3% below their asking price on average, and took about 81 days to place a long-term tenant in the first half of 2026.

Nearly three months on the market is not what a market looks like when tenants have lost all bargaining power. Well-priced units go fast; landlords who overshoot wait or cut.

So don't read 13.5% as "rents are up 13.5% for everyone." Real deals are rising strongly, just less than the ads.

Which Panama City neighborhoods are expensive for renters now?

Costa del Este and Punta Pacífica top the list, but the rent gap between neighborhoods is smaller than the gap in purchase prices.

Per m², PanamaProp's October 18, 2026 price map puts asking rents around $15 in Costa del Este and Punta Paitilla, $14 in Punta Pacífica and $13 in San Francisco, El Cangrejo and Obarrio. On signed leases, ACOBIR has Juan Díaz at $14.17, San Francisco at $12.73 and Bella Vista at $12.18.

Citywide, PanamaKey's median ad in October 2026 asked about $1,500 a month for a 1-bedroom, $1,550 for a 2-bedroom and $2,450 for a 3-bedroom. By neighborhood, a 1-bedroom's median ask runs from about $1,150 in Obarrio to $1,950 in Costa del Este (PanamaProp, October 4, 2026); our Panama City rents by neighborhood article has the full table by bedroom count.

Size changes the bill a lot. A large Punta Pacífica apartment can cost several thousand dollars a month even when its price per m² isn't far above a smaller unit elsewhere.

So compare per m² and building by building. Size, age, furniture and the state of the building matter almost as much as the address.

Are newer Panama City buildings pulling rents higher?

Yes. Newer, well-run buildings have far more pricing power, which is why rents can differ so much on the same street.

Panama Equity's July 2026 update describes a split market: buildings under roughly 15 years old, with modern common areas, decent gyms and pools and good management, see the strongest demand, while older buildings with weaker amenities can stay flat even in popular districts.

El Cangrejo shows how wide the gap gets. Panama Equity found newer projects asking roughly $16.50 to $21 per m², while an older building such as Cangrejo Bay was closer to $10.80.

The neighborhood can't explain that difference: these apartments compete in the same part of town.

It also means listing portals can give a skewed view of "Panama City rent." The units shown most prominently online often belong to the segment that has risen fastest.

For owners there's a catch. New apartments earn higher rents, but they also cost more to buy, so a better rent doesn't automatically mean a better return.

Is Panama City actually running short of apartments?

No. But the big inventory cushion that kept rents weak for years has shrunk a lot.

That's probably the most important change behind today's rental market.

Panama Equity, using Galería Inmobiliaria data, counted 16,311 units in the developer pipeline at the start of 2026 (presale, under construction and recently completed), the lowest in nine years.

A separate, more recent measure, the stock of new units still for sale, stood at about 15,499 in May 2026, 11% fewer than a year earlier. Completed, move-in-ready inventory was down about 8%. These are two different counts, not a drop from one to the other.

Panama City came into the 2020s with the legacy of a huge tower-building cycle. Developers then slowed down, existing stock kept being absorbed, and fewer new apartments came in behind it.

Rents don't need a real housing shortage to rise. Removing enough excess stock is enough to shift negotiations toward landlords.

The market seems to have crossed that point for good, modern units.

Are towers with unsold units a chance for renters?

Yes, in some buildings. Unsold condos are the main thing still holding rents back, and they're where tenants have the most room to bargain.

Sales are weak. 4S Real Estate counted 2,866 new homes sold in 2025, down 39.5% from 4,737 in 2024 (La Prensa, July 2026). In ACOBIR's national MLS sample for the first half of 2026 (85 apartments), sold units closed on average 6% below their last asking price, after 224 days on the market.

Some developers are cutting prices or offering deals to move finished units. Investors who bought on plan and can't resell at the price they wanted often rent the unit out instead, so the same tower can have several near-identical apartments for rent at once.

That's good news for tenants. In those buildings, ask how many similar units are listed (a quick search by building name on Encuentra24 tells you), and use it.

What to check before signing in a half-empty tower: that the building's condo fees are being paid (a tower with many empty units can struggle to pay for lifts, security and pool maintenance), whether common areas are finished, and who handles repairs.

A citywide rent drop would need many more of these towers. For now, they cap rents in their own buildings rather than across the city.

Will all the new construction bring Panama City rents back down?

Probably not soon. More construction is more likely to slow rent growth than push rents down.

Approvals have turned up. Panama district data show residential units in approved projects rising from 1,473 in the first five months of 2025 to 2,332 over the same period of 2026, about 58% more. CAPAC reported the value of building permits up 36.3% in the first quarter of 2026, though still 44.1% below the first quarter of 2023.

That makes sense: rents are higher and years of absorption have made building attractive again.

But an approved project is years away from being an apartment someone can rent. Financing, presales, construction and delivery all take time.

For renters today, what matters is how many finished units compete for tenants, and that stock is tighter than a few years ago.

If the pipeline keeps growing, the balance could look different in 2028 or 2029. For now, it does little to change the direction of rents.

Are more foreigners helping push Panama City rents up?

Yes, in the neighborhoods foreigners favor, but 2026 data suggest that push is weaker than it was.

Panama processed 18,415 new residency applications in the first half of 2025, about 40% more than a year earlier, according to immigration data reviewed by Panama Equity. Colombia, Venezuela, the United States, Nicaragua and China were among the largest nationalities.

2026 looks different for wealthier arrivals. Immigration figures reported by IMI Daily (August 2026) show 1,546 approvals for investment and retirement residence in the first half of 2026, including 1,011 Friendly Nations and 347 pensionado approvals. At that pace, the year would end about 41% below 2025.

The new Qualified Investor rules (Decree 17, in force since September 16, 2026) lowered the property route to $300,000 for a first sale of a new home, but it's too early to see any effect on rentals.

Newcomers usually rent first, and they look in the same places: Costa del Este, San Francisco, Bella Vista, Punta Pacífica, El Cangrejo and nearby. A small group can move rents in one slice of the market without setting rents citywide.

Tourism adds a bit. Panama had about 1.75 million international arrivals in the first half of 2026, up 17.4%, which supports furnished and corporate rentals. But in the district of Panamá, renting for less than 45 days needs a tourism permit, so long-term rents can't simply be blamed on Airbnb.

Will the Airbnb bills put more apartments on the long-term market?

Not yet. Nothing has changed in law, so there's no wave of short-term units moving to long leases.

The rule today: in the district of Panamá, renting a home for less than 45 days without a tourist-accommodation permit from the ATP can bring fines of $5,000 to $50,000, advertising included (article 21 of Law 80 of 2012). Many buildings' PH rules also ban short stays outright.

Two bills are in play. Bill 301 passed its first debate in January 2026 and would set 10% ITBMS and an ATP register. Bill 713 would set 15% ITBMS and repeal Law 80, but hasn't reached first debate. The government proposed 15% in September 2026.

The latest: between October 20 and 28, 2026, there was no vote. On October 22 the hotel association APATEL asked for an annual permit and the 15% rate in bill 301, and on October 26 Airbnb again asked lawmakers to drop the 15% from bill 713.

About 12,000 to 13,000 Panamanian homes were listed on Airbnb in September 2026. If a tougher version passes, some of their owners would switch to long leases, mostly furnished 1-bedrooms in Avenida Balboa, San Francisco and Punta Pacífica. That would soften furnished rents in those areas first.

For renters, the practical point: a furnished unit advertised "for short or long stays" often belongs to an owner testing both markets. Those owners tend to accept a solid 12-month lease at a fair price.

Are expensive mortgages keeping more Panama City residents in rentals?

Yes. Weak home sales and costly loans keep part of housing demand in the rental market.

Convivienda members recorded 4,020 new home sales in 2025, down 34.4% on the year, and expect about 5,530 in 2026.

Loans haven't got cheaper. The Superintendency of Banks' reference mortgage rate stayed at 6.5% in the first half of 2026, and an actual loan outside the preferential program usually costs more: Banco General lists 8% plus 1% FECI for a second home. New mortgage lending reached about $981 million from January to August 2026, 13% less than a year earlier.

Preferential loans fell hardest: $132 million from January to April 2026, down 34%, after the new rules in force since January 1, 2026 limited them to new homes up to $120,000 used as a main residence.

So people who would normally move from renting to owning wait, especially when the down payment is large or the monthly payment looks bad.

A weak sales market and a strong rental market can live side by side, and Panama City shows exactly that.

Are Panama City rents rising faster than the rest of the cost of living?

By a wide margin, even though inflation is back.

INEC put consumer inflation at 2.8% over the 12 months to September 2026 (3.0% in Panama province). In 2025, prices were roughly flat.

Against that, the 13.5% rise in asking rents is about 10.7 points above inflation, and the 8.9% rise in signed rents about 6.1 points above it. Official rent inflation for existing contracts, meanwhile, was -0.27% in 2025.

So landlords are doing more than passing on higher costs. Good available apartments have become more valuable because demand for them grew faster than supply.

That creates an affordability problem that will slow the trend sooner or later. Local salaries aren't rising 10% or 15% a year.

Rents aimed at local households will hit that ceiling before units aimed at foreign or high-income tenants.

Are higher Panama City rents making rental property much more profitable?

A bit more, yes, because rents rose while sale prices didn't. But net returns are still modest.

ACOBIR's MLS put closed apartment sale prices at $1,726 per m² in the first half of 2026, 1.7% below the $1,756 of a year earlier. Over the same year, signed rents went from $11.54 to $12.57 per m².

On those figures, the gross yield on a typical apartment rose from about 7.9% to 8.7%.

Net is a different story. On a 100 m² apartment bought for $172,600 and rented at $1,257 a month, one month empty, condo fees, property tax, upkeep and insurance bring the yield to about 5.6% if you manage it yourself and 4.5% with a manager, before income tax. After a 15% tax on the net rent, that's about 4.8% and 3.8%.

Owners who bought years ago at lower prices do best: their price is fixed while rents rose. A buyer paying a new-build premium today can still end up with a thin yield despite a higher rent.

So rising rents make existing rentals more valuable, but they don't turn every new purchase into a good investment.

What can a renter negotiate in Panama City right now?

More than the ads suggest. Aim close to signed-lease levels, not the asking price.

The median rental ad in Panama City had been online 41 days in October 2026 (PanamaKey), and placing a long-term tenant took about 81 days on average in the first half of 2026. On a $1,257 rent, 81 empty days cost a landlord about $3,350. Giving you 5% off for a year costs him about $750, so a reliable tenant who signs fast has real bargaining power.

What to aim for: on a 100 m² unit, ads average about $1,470 and signed leases about $1,257. Start near the signed figure on units listed for more than a month, in towers with several identical units for rent, and in older buildings without upgrades.

What to negotiate besides the rent: who pays the condo fee (usually the owner; typically $1.50 to $2.50 per m² a month in a standard building and $2.50 to $4.50 in premium towers), a capped increase at renewal written into the lease, a 12-month term instead of 6, parking included, and the furniture and appliances listed in the contract.

Two rules to know: residential leases must be registered with MIVIOT, the housing ministry, which accepts filing online since September 2026 (SERTV), and the standard deposit is one month's rent. A registered lease is what protects you in a dispute; a landlord asking two or three months' deposit "because you're a foreigner" is something to push back on.

What you won't get: big discounts on new, well-run buildings in San Francisco, Costa del Este or Punta Pacífica. Those units get several serious tenants and close near their ask.

For landlords, the same math works in reverse: price for the building, not the neighborhood. A clean unit priced near signed-lease levels rents faster than an ambitious ad that sits for three months.

Could Panama City rents stop rising soon?

They could slow, but we don't see a turn yet.

Several things should slow the market: more approved projects, investors putting more units up for rent, tenants moving to older buildings or cheaper areas, local salaries that can't keep up, and slower growth in wealthy foreign arrivals.

Some restraint is already visible. Placing a tenant took about 81 days in the first half of 2026, and rented units closed about 3% below their ask.

That tells us tenants have choices. The market is tighter, but owners can't rent any unit at any price.

The economy still supports rents: GDP grew 4.4% in 2025 and 5.5% in the first half of 2026, and the World Bank expects 4.2% for 2026 as a whole.

Expecting another automatic 10% or 15% would be aggressive. Expecting a sudden drop needs evidence we don't have.

What should renters and landlords expect over the next 12 months?

Rents should keep rising, but more slowly, with signed leases more likely to grow in single digits than at the 13.5% seen in ads.

The headline figures: signed rents up 8.9% to $12.57 per m², asking rents up 13.5%, the stock of new units for sale down 11%, and gains in San Francisco, Bella Vista and Juan Díaz alike.

The limits are real: existing tenants see much smaller increases than new ones, older buildings don't behave like new towers, half-empty towers compete hard for tenants, and placing a tenant still takes close to three months.

If you're renting: shop by building, use the time a unit has been listed, and aim near the signed level. If you're renewing, a modest increase is normal; a jump to the ad price isn't.

Our view: rents will still be rising in Panama City in 2027. The double-digit pace in ads won't last, so expect slower growth rather than a drop.