Hi,

I spent 3 years in Panama and purchased a few parcels of land( the whole time I was on tourist visas which I renewed every 3 months by going to Costa Rica.)although, permanent resident status was not complicated to acquire.  There was no legal problem with a foreigner purchasing titled property and registering it in the public land registry under their own name.

There were 2 types of land ownership: titled ( I guess this would be equivalent to freehold) and ROP or rights-of-possesion.

The only restrictions were that foreigners could not own titled land on the coast or within 10 kilometers of the border.

ROP land was a much weaker form of ownership, and although many foreigners have purchased ROP land in Panama our lawyer advised against this as there were many potential problems. These included instances of family members of the previous owners appearing and claiming they had some rights to the land after the sale.

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Otherwise, probably the most active website for looking at Panama property is  www.panamarealtor.com which I have nothing to do with.  Buenos suerte!

Cheers!

Panama Pete