Nashville-based CHORD Real Estate has announced the third annual Invest Panama Summit, scheduled for January 21 through January 24, 2027, in Panama City. The event follows two consecutive summits that took groups of American and Canadian investors on guided tours of the country's primary real estate zones.
The summits have produced a consistent reaction among participants, according to Steve Luther, founder of CHORD Real Estate, who has personally invested in the market and led both groups. "They all had a very similar reaction to what we did the first time we got to Panama," Luther said. "Everybody was just shocked. What is this place? How have we not heard about this?"
That shock, as Luther describes it, is not about aesthetics but about scale and substance. Panama City has a skyline, more than 80 international banks, and over 180 multinational regional headquarters operating under favorable tax conditions. Companies like Dell and Caterpillar have established significant operations there. The economy is anchored by the Panama Canal, through which roughly five to six percent of global trade passes annually.
None of that matches the version of Panama that exists in the imagination of most North Americans before they visit, a gap between perception and reality that has persisted because Panama has not historically invested in broad international marketing. That gap is precisely what draws the attention of investors who track markets before they become widely discussed.
Each area the summit groups visited carried its own indicators. Playa Caracol and Amador draw interest for their tourism potential, coastal scarcity, and the infrastructure investment surrounding them, including metro extensions crossing the canal, highway widening, and a new bridge connecting Panama City to the western province. Santa Maria appeals to buyers looking for long-term stability, anchored by an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course and a master-planned community of a scale that has no real domestic equivalent. Costa del Este attracts attention from those watching nearshoring trends, as more multinational companies position regional operations closer to North American time zones.
"I don't know of an area in Panama I don't like right now," Luther said. "That's the problem."
The investors who attended the second summit in May 2026 reflected that variety. The group included people focused purely on returns, a digital nomad looking to home base in Panama, buyers considering seasonal use, and others evaluating the country's residency pathways. The available projects were diverse enough that each of them found something worth examining seriously.
Beyond the specific projects, the summit format offers relationship infrastructure. Meeting developers in person, walking construction sites, sitting across a table from attorneys and local agents produce a confidence level that no amount of online research replicates. As Luther puts it: "I don't suggest wiring a bunch of money from a Zoom call. Shake hands, meet the people, get a comfort level, build that trust."
The third summit will follow the established structure: a welcome reception on the first evening, guided property tours across Panama City's development zones over the following days, and an excursion to the Pacific coast, including Playa Caracol, before the group returns. Spots are limited. More information is available at chordrealestate.com/investpanamasummit.
The implications reach beyond a single event. For investors, the summit offers a structured entry point into a market that remains underrecognized despite its economic fundamentals. For the real estate industry, it highlights how on-the-ground due diligence can uncover opportunities that online research misses. And for Panama, it suggests that as more North Americans see the country firsthand, the perception gap that has kept it off many investors' radar may finally begin to close.
