Pacora

About Pacora:

Pacora fills the eastern end of the Panamá district. 24 de Diciembre lies on its city side, Las Garzas towards the east and the coast, and San Martín and Caimitillo in the hills to the north. The Panamericana is the spine of the corregimiento, carrying traffic from Felipillo on towards Chepo and Darién, and the rebuilding of the Panamericana Este, a 246-kilometre contract running to Yaviza, starts just beyond the town in Las Garzas. For the run downtown, drivers also use Avenida José Agustín Arango and the Corredor Sur. Metro Line 2 stops at Nuevo Tocumen; a two-kilometre extension to Felipillo is planned, but carrying the line on to Pacora itself has only ever been a campaign promise, and the metro master plan leaves this area to a future Line 4.

The old town grew up beside the Río Pacora on land the cimarrones farmed with the tools, seed and cattle the Crown handed over under the truce. Pacora was later a district in its own right, until it was folded into the Panamá district as a corregimiento on 15 December 1892. The parish church of the Inmaculada Concepción, built in 1791, and the corregiduría building of 1935 still mark the centre, and the town’s Afro-Panamanian roots are celebrated on the Día de la Etnia Negra. Out in Utivé, carnival is still kept the traditional way and draws visitors from the city.

Growth came fast once the city reached this far. Pacora had about 6,000 residents in 1980 and 26,000 by 1990, and it kept gaining people even after 24 de Diciembre was carved out of it in 2002 and Las Garzas in 2017. Today the corregimiento takes in the town itself, Altos de Pacora, Utivé, Los Lotes, Malengue, Pueblo Nuevo, Tataré, Caminos de Omar and Arnulfo Arias, among other communities. Many residents commute to jobs in the city, while cattle and farming carry on beyond the built-up strip. Workshops, schools and supermarkets line the highway, and the municipal Mercado Periférico de Pacora, with 24 stalls for produce and meat, opened in November 2022.

The land is a lowland plain that rises towards the hills around Utivé, crossed by the Pacora, the Cabobré and the Tataré. Those rivers matter when you buy. In heavy rain the Cabobré has broken its banks in Los Lotes, and the Cabobré and the Tataré together have flooded homes in San Juan and Colinas del Este. Water supply is the other recurring complaint, and residents of Utivé, Los Lotes and Colinas have blocked the road over dry taps. Most buyers are Panamanian families after their first house, using the preferential mortgage rate and the state housing bonus, with investors looking at land along the highway.

Houses in Pacora:

Houses make up most of the market. In the old town and in Utivé you find older family homes on larger lots, often extended room by room over the years. The subdivisions are a different product: rows of compact one-storey houses on small lots, sold to first-time buyers. In Malengue, Pueblo Nuevo Residencial put up social-interest houses on 110-square-metre lots designed so owners can add a second bathroom later. Elsewhere, two- and three-bedroom models are the norm. For any house for sale in Pacora, check that additions such as a back room, a carport roof or a perimeter wall appear on the registered plan.

New Developments in Pacora:

Several developers are still building here. Alamedas de Pacora has 333 single-family houses on about 9.2 hectares, two bedrooms and one bathroom in 78 square metres, with finished streets, parks and units ready to move into. Provivir’s Ciudad del Este sells three-bedroom models with a gazebo, a playground and an outdoor gym inside the project. Most of this stock is priced to qualify for the preferential interest rate, and some projects are built to the rules of the state housing bonus. Ask whether the house you are looking at qualifies before you plan your budget around it.

Land and Lots in Pacora:

Land comes in two sizes. Along the Panamericana and in Tataré, commercial lots of several thousand square metres are sold for warehouses and businesses, some already zoned for that kind of use. Further from the highway, parcels of tens of hectares change hands as land banks for future housing, some planted with teak and some offered with a preliminary subdivision design. Before you buy land in Pacora, check the zoning, how close the parcel sits to the Cabobré, the Tataré or the Pacora, and whether water and power can actually reach it.

Rentals in Pacora:

The rental market is houses, not apartments. Two- and three-bedroom homes come up for long-term rent in subdivisions such as Los Álamos and Pacora Gardens, and rents sit among the lowest in the capital district. Tenants are mostly families and workers who want a house with a yard and can live with the commute. Ask how the street fared in the last heavy rain and how steady the water supply is before you sign a lease.

FAQ:

• Is a property advertised as “Pacora” actually in Pacora?

  Often it is not. Río Chico, San Diego and Paso Blanco have belonged to Las Garzas since 2017, and Felipillo and Nuevo Tocumen to 24 de Diciembre since 2002, yet projects there are still sold as Pacora; Valles del Este, for example, sits in Río Chico in Las Garzas. Ask for the finca number and check the corregimiento on the Registro Público record before comparing prices.

• Does Pacora flood?

  Parts of it do. The Cabobré and the Tataré have overflowed into Los Lotes, San Juan and Colinas del Este in heavy storms. Ask neighbours how high the water reached, look at whether the house sits below the street, and keep in mind that lots next to a creek are the first to be hit.

• When will the metro reach Pacora?

  There is no date. The planned next step is a two-kilometre extension of Line 2 from Nuevo Tocumen to Felipillo. A further stretch of about 4.7 kilometres to Pacora has been promised by politicians but is not in the official master plan, so price a property on today’s bus and car commute.

• Can I use the housing bonus or the preferential rate here?

  Many subdivision houses are priced to qualify for the preferential interest rate, and some projects meet the requirements of the state housing bonus for first-time buyers below an income ceiling. Get the developer to confirm in writing which benefit applies to your unit, since the bonus has been paid late to developers in the past.

• What should I check before buying land or a house here?

  Pacora’s boundaries moved in 2002 and again in 2017, so confirm the corregimiento and the finca number on the title, together with any liens. On farmland towards the hills, make sure the seller holds registered title rather than possession rights, and walk the boundaries against the survey plan. Foreigners can buy on the same terms as Panamanians.