News

By Brian Kelly

There has been a big change in the Panama City real estate market. For the first time, there is a gated, master-planned golf course community, with a wide variety of luxury homes for sale, minutes from the heart of Panama City.

The community—the Santa Maria Golf and Country Club—has been taking shape in recent years and is now blossoming as a major new option for investors and second home buyers. New projects are in development, offering the type of opportunity in a country club setting that has never been seen before in Panama City.

The community is built around an 18-hole Nicklaus Design golf course, which is already viewed as the premier golf facility in Panama. Earlier this year Marriott’s Luxury Collection opened The Santa Maria Hotel & Golf Resort, one of the really outstanding hotels in Panama City. The first Luxury Collection hotel in Panama, the Santa Maria offers 182 luxury guest rooms with a focus on the traditions and history of Panama.

The hotel really brings home the vision of Santa Maria as an international-level destination. Since opening, it has been established as a five-star resort, creating a centerpiece amenity for the residents of the Santa Maria community.

Santa Maria offers the type of luxury resort lifestyle found in many of the best locations of the Caribbean. Residents (and non-residents) can join the Santa Maria Country Club, which offers a community center and a wide array of sports options, from tennis courts to bowling. This is separate from the Golf Club, which has already established itself as one of the most prestigious groups in Panama.

You have to be a property owner in Santa Maria to join the Golf Club; anybody can join the country club, although residents get a discount.  “Make no mistake: world-class golfing is just the beginning of a long list of perks and amenities here,” Forbes wrote in a recent review. The author was particularly enamored with the hotel. “There’s no shortage of hotels in the city center,” she wrote, “but it’s The Santa Maria… that’s been hosting discriminating business and leisure travelers alike seeking a more serene side of Panama City.”

For home buyers evaluating Panama City, Santa Maria adds an alternative that has been lacking in the city. The master-planned development offers all the convenience and security of a resort-style gated community, with staff available 24-hours a day, only 15 minutes from Tocumen International Airport.

Santa Maria offers the type of tropical setting a visitor would expect from Panama, with cool ocean breezes and lush green spaces. But it’s also five minutes to all the restaurants and shops of the fast-growing Costa del Este to the east and the heart of Panama City less than 10 minutes from any home in the capital.

The gated, resort-community also provides a wide array of product for home buyers, from expensive penthouses to single-family homes. Several projects are completed, but more are coming online in the next few years, as the project begins to blossom.

Most of the towers are attracting the type of luxury clients one would expect from this style of community, but PPR recently started working with a project that is offering homes with golf course and ocean views for under $325,000. This is the first time these price points have been available in Santa Maria and they are unlikely to last for long.

Santa Maria may not be for everybody, but it is definitely a new player on the market, providing a real choice for buyers who love the lifestyle and quiet of golf-course life.

Want to learn more?  CLICK HERE to get more information on pricing and availability.