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Eighty-five percent of the 905 units in the Trump Ocean Club have been sold, according to the latest statement from the developers of the closely watched project in Panama City.

For the first half of 2010, the development reported $24 million in sales, including a bulk sale of 27 units for $6.2 million, reports Sam Taliaferro in his Panama Investor blog. That would put the average price for the 27 condos at $230,000, which is low for a development considered at the top end of Panama City’s market.

But the big unanswered question for the development: How many of the buyers will actually close on their units, especially those who paid top dollar in the boom years? According to the latest report, 26 units worth a total $14.7 million were classified as defaulted and returned to inventory in the first half of the year. (And while it’s not an apples to apples comparison, it’s worth noting the average price of the defaulted units was closer to $565,000.)

Destinations in Belize, Nicaragua and Panama made AARP magazine’s latest list of top retirement spots.

The magazine’s criteria focused on “mostly warm and sunny, attractively affordable locales with good-to-excellent health care that are hospitable to Americans of retirement age.”

That makes many of the choices something of a no-brainer. And maybe the magazine’s criteria were not as “exacting” as it claims. Most represent the safe, easy choices beloved by retirees for years.

A new report doesn’t mince words about the state of the residential investment market in Panama.

“Flipping is dead,” concludes the analysis by Alternative Latin Investor.

There is “unanimous consensus” that the market has “fundamentally changed,” the report says.

“The market is acutely aware that foreign investors are no longer able to raise capital against their assets to fund these property investments and during the last two years, with demand disintegrating, the market has corrected 15 percent to 30 percent accordingly,” the report says.

Valle Escondido

Nothing can spark a second home market like an airport, which is why development executives in western Panama are understandably excited by the start of the David airport expansion.

As part of a $30 million upgrade, the primary runway in the Enrique Malek International Airport will be lengthened from 2,100 meters to 2,600 meters. A variety of facilities will also be added to handle more direct international traffic, the Holy Grail for all developers in Central America.

Investors looking for the next wave of residential growth should target Peru, Panama and Brazil, a new report on global markets suggests.

Strong economic growth, low interest rates and continued housing boom make Latin America, in general, far more appealing than other regions, according to the latest recommendations from the Global Property Guide, which tracks markets around the world.

The site’s analysis, which is weighted toward rental yields, is less kind to Europe, where “property markets have not sufficiently adjusted from their 15-year rise.” And while Asia valuations are skyrocketing, GPG believes the region is already “over-valued,” except for locales like Malaysia and riot-torn Thailand.

Of the 34 projects approved in the last two years in Boquete, the expat-friendly enclave in the hills of northern Panama, only 11 are moving forward, according to a regional official.

Revenues from building permits are down 60 percent, the municipal engineer told La Prensa.

“As usual there appears to be some exaggerations along with the facts,” replies Boquete developer Sam Taliaferro in his blog. While acknowledging the slow sales, he says the data inaccurately reflects the number of foreign buyers in the area, a touchy subject with the locals.

Despite concerns of widespread defaults, only 11 buyers have walked away from their purchases in the Trump Ocean Club in Panama, the project’s longtime sales director says.

A total of 870 condos have been sold in the 70-story, 1004-unit tower, which is set to open within a year, according to Jack Studnicky, who now serves as a consultant for the International Sales Group, the master broker on the project. About 95 buyers have registered to resell their units, but there hasn’t been the run of defections some feared, he says.

The Trump Ocean Club is seen as a bellwether for the Panama City condo market, as well as the region. The project, which licenses Trump’s name, tried to set a new high-end price range for condos, at a time when dozens of planned tower projects never got off the drawing board.

On the list barometers to gauge a country’s worthiness as a second home destination, IPJ contributor Claudia Gonella has found a new one—paved roads from the airport.

This may sound slightly frivolous, but there is logic to the Sore Butt Index. While some may look at long term rental yields or the number of golf courses within a 50-mile radius, for many buyers that first bumpy drive from the airport defines the experience, especially in Central America.

Property industry professionals in Panama have been trying to decipher the implications of Law No. 49, which made far-ranging changes in the tax code.

While details are best left to tax specialists, the law, implemented in September, calls for new property taxes on some apartments and adjusts the capital gains tax, making it a bit more complicated to figure out the long-term return on property.

On his Panama Investor blog, developer Sam Taliaferro includes a six-page, semi-easy-to-understand breakdown of the specifics of the law from a tax attorney. (Scroll to bottom of the page.)