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Mexico property guides for foreign buyers

Every guide here is written for a foreign buyer working out whether a specific Mexican purchase makes sense, not for someone browsing. We are not a developer, not a brokerage, and not a listing portal, so nothing on this site needs you to buy anything for it to have been worth writing.

The sections below follow the order the questions actually arrive: can a foreigner own this at all, what does the purchase cost, what will Mexico tax, what will your own country tax, can it be rented nightly, and what does it take to get the money back out.

Figures are indicative and dated. Property law, ISR treatment and short-term rental permits vary by state and municipality and change more often than most sources admit, so every page carries the date it was last reviewed. Verify against a Mexican notario and a cross-border CPA before you commit.

140 pages across 13 sections. Last updated October 5, 2026.

Start here

The framework most foreign buyers need before anything else.

Fideicomiso and the restricted zone

What a foreigner can own on the coast, through what structure, at what cost.

The buying process

Escrow, notario, powers of attorney, translation, and what happens in what order.

Mexican tax: ISR, IVA, RFC, CFDI, predial

What Mexico charges you on purchase, on rental income, and on the way out.

US and Canadian tax on a Mexican property

The half of the bill your home country sends. FATCA, FBAR, Form 1116, Schedule E, 1031.

Short-term rental: permits, tax, operations

Whether you can rent it nightly, what that costs to run, and who files what.

Yield, costs and carrying

What turns a developer’s gross quote into a number you can bank.

Financing and currency

How non-residents actually fund a purchase, and what the peso does to the maths.

Risk: title, hazard, fraud

The failure modes. Ejido title, seismic and hurricane exposure, and the scams that recur.

Selling and getting paid

The exit: ISR at the notario, cost basis, and moving the proceeds home.

Markets and property types

Where to buy, and what kind of asset to buy there.

Buyer profiles and budgets

The same market looks different depending on who is buying and with how much.

More research

Recently published and not yet filed into a section above.

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Tell us the budget and the market. We reply within one business day with three to five options and the net yield maths behind each one.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Outside the restricted zone, meaning more than 50 km from a coastline and 100 km from a land border, a foreigner takes direct title in their own name. Inside it, which covers Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta, residential property is held through a fideicomiso: a 50-year renewable bank trust where the bank holds title and you hold the beneficial rights to use, rent, improve, sell and bequeath.

The parts of a purchase that cost money rather than earn commission: ISAI by state, notario fees, the fideicomiso and SRE permit stack, ISR on exit and how the 25% gross versus 35% net election works, RFC and CFDI compliance for rental income, municipal short-term rental permits, and the title and hazard risks that end deals.

Each guide shows the date it was last reviewed under the title. Tax rates, bank trust fees and rental permit rules change by state and municipality, so treat the date as part of the figure. Where a number matters to a decision, the guide says which authority to confirm it with.

Read the Mexico property investment guide for the framework, then the fideicomiso guide for the ownership structure, then the cost of buying guide for the real closing stack. Those three answer most of what a first purchase turns on. After that, the market guides narrow it down geographically.