A two-dimensional algorithm, which combines the well-known Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging and the recently developed effective inversion method, is presented and applied to a three-dimensional configuration. During the first stage a two-dimensional image of a realistic three-dimensional buried object is obtained. In the second stage the average permittivity of the object is estimated using a two-dimensional effective inversion scheme where the geometrical information retrieved from the SAR image is employed. The algorithm is applicable in real time.