Can a foreigner buy a house in Baja California, and what does it cost?

1. Who can buy, and by which route?

Article 27 of the Constitution says the State may grant foreigners the right to acquire land if they agree before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) to be considered nationals with respect to those assets. It also sets a limit: within a strip of one hundred kilometers along the borders and fifty along the beaches, foreigners may not acquire direct ownership of land and water under any circumstances.

So there are two routes. Outside that strip, the Foreign Investment Law asks for a written agreement before the SRE and an SRE permit (art. 10 A); the same law lets the SRE set, by general agreement in the federal gazette, cases where the written agreement alone is enough. Inside the strip, for a house, the route the law provides is the fideicomiso. Whether a specific property is inside or outside the strip depends on its exact location; the same law says INEGI publishes in the federal gazette the list of municipalities entirely and partly inside the zone. Ask the notario or the bank about your property.

2. Inside the strip: the fideicomiso

In a fideicomiso, a Mexican bank is the trustee of the property and the foreigner is the beneficiary: the beneficiary can use and enjoy the house, but the trust does not give real rights over it. The law requires the bank to hold an SRE permit (art. 11) and sets a maximum term of fifty years, which can be extended at the interested party's request (art. 13). The SRE may verify at any time that the conditions of the permit are met.

3. Who files, and what the notary does

According to Ventanilla Única, the permit request to the SRE can only be filed by the trust delegates of a Mexican bank, and the maximum response time is five business days. An agreement published in the federal gazette on March 16, 2012 sets out that those delegates file it online with an advanced electronic signature. With the permit, the fideicomiso is created before a notario público and the result is the public deed creating the fideicomiso.

The buyer does not file the request with the SRE on their own: the bank that will act as trustee handles it. The documents asked of the foreign buyer (passport, immigration document, proof of address from the home country, RFC and CURP, among others) and those for the property are listed on the Ventanilla Única page cited below.

4. What does it cost?

The only official cost this page cites is the SRE permit: the Ventanilla Única page shows MX$21,650. The Ley Federal de Derechos (art. 25, sec. V, subsec. a) sets a 2026 fee of MX$21,648.83 for the SRE permit to create fideicomisos; Ventanilla Única shows it rounded. Fees change every year; confirm it before paying.

We do not include the notary's fees, the fee of the bank that would act as trustee, purchase taxes or other expenses here, because they depend on each case and change. Ask the notary and the bank for a written breakdown before you make an offer.

The price of the house weighs the most. Below are the asking prices of the houses this site shows today.

Related guides

Sources

• Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, art. 27, section I · Cámara de Diputados · accessed 2026-11-06
• Ley de Inversión Extranjera, arts. 2, 10 A, 11, 13 and 14 · Cámara de Diputados · accessed 2026-11-06
• Ventanilla Única: Obtain the permit to create the fideicomiso (SRE) · Secretaría de Economía, Ventanilla Única para Inversionistas · accessed 2026-11-06
• Ventanilla Única: Create the fideicomiso before a notario público · Secretaría de Economía, Ventanilla Única para Inversionistas · accessed 2026-11-06
• Agreement on how bank trust delegates apply to the SRE for restricted-zone fideicomiso permits (DOF 2012-03-16) · Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, Diario Oficial de la Federación · accessed 2026-11-06
• Ley Federal de Derechos, art. 25, section V · Cámara de Diputados · accessed 2026-11-06