Facts of Buying Real Estates in the Philippines:
A person must be a Filipino citizen to buy real estates in the Philippines. A foreigner with Filipino husband or wife can buy land
in the Philippines and register it in the name of the Filipino spouse. It is a conjugal property so both of them owned it.
A foreign company can buy real estates in the Philippines provided that 60% of the company is owned by a Filipino
citizen. Thus, a foreigner can form a corporation, partner with a Filipino company or person and purchase a land.
The size of land to purchase is governed according to the purpose and amount of investment. It is imperative to hire a
lawyer
who specializes in investment and real estates in the Philippines before engaging into a contract to buy a land.
Land Type and Restriction
Island- There are 7701 islands in the Philippines. Laws on buying islands are governed by the constitution. The most
basic law is; no island can be registered for titling (no title) if the size is 5 hectares or less. 70% of the islands in
the Philippines are below 5 hectares in area. In fact some of the islands appear only during low tide. Acquiring island
within the size of 5 hectares can be possible only by buying the right of the occupant and leasing it from the government.
Beach Lot- Beach lot is the most expensive property in the Philippines to date. This will depend also on tourism area.
Beach lot can be cheap in none popular area with good utilities such as access to water and electricity. Beach lot has a
salvage zone of 25 meters inland during high tide. This means that you cannot buy the land up to the water level. There
is a set back of 25 meters after high tide before your property can be installed with PS marker. Beach is a public area.
This is designed for access of the public to the beach.
Farm/Agricultural land- Buying farm is governed by Agrarian reform which limits ownership to 5 hectares per entity.
Farm can be bought also as residential if you use it for primary home with farming project, or commercial if you put up a
a processing plant for farm produce. Buying above 5 hectares for specific project needs consultation with local
government. This helps facilitate for the introduction of new investment in the area and possibly creates local jobs. If you
are interested with mining, by the way, please research the country's regulation with the DENR (Department of
Environment and Natural Resources). Always use the service of a lawyer when investing real estates in the Philippines.
Price of Land
The price of land is based in Philippine Peso (PhP). Check the updated exchange rate as seen on the left of this page to see the current exchange rate. If the date is not updated please check with you local stock market to see the current exchange rate. Note that there is no stock market activity on weekends so exchange rate on weekend is still posted as
of Friday. Check with your local bank for assistance on international rate on weekends.
