Mexico moves to ease restrictions on foreigners buying coastal property
Photo Credit: A street scene in Todos Santos, Baja California Sur. The town is a hot spot for U.S. citizens seeking second homes near the coast. Flickr / Miss Shari
Skift Take
Ensuring legal certainty on property rights, instead of various proxies foreigners have been using so far to buy property in Mexico, is the right step, and could see a U.S.-led boom in retirement relocation, if finally passed in Senate.
The lower house of Mexico's congress voted Tuesday to loosen longstanding restrictions on foreigners buying property along the coast and the nation's borders, a proposal that drew stiff criticism from some quarters.
The measure, which passed 356-119 in the Chamber of Deputies, still needs approval from the Senate and a majority of the country's 32 state legislatures to become law.
For decades, foreigners have had to use real-estate trusts or Mexican front companies to buy beachfront properties, because Article 27 of the constitution prohibits non-Mexicans from directly owning land within 31 miles (50 kilometers) of the coast and 62 miles (100 kilometers) of the nation's borders. The trusts and front companies have provided
