Buying Property in Brazil as a Foreigner: Who Can Buy, the Steps, and What It Costs

The short version

Question	Short answer	Source
Can a foreigner buy urban property?	Yes; the federal rules we read set no nationality condition for an ordinary urban purchase	Rules listed below
What do I need first?	A CPF	Receita Federal
Rural land?	Controlled by INCRA; only for foreigners resident in Brazil, with area limits	INCRA
Border strip?	Prior assent of the National Defense Council	INCRA; Constitution art. 20, §2
Union coastal land?	SPU steps: laudêmio, transfer certificate, and prior authorization for foreigners above 1,000 m²	SPU
When do I own it?	When the deed is registered	Código Civil art. 1.245
Transfer tax	ITBI, set by each city; 2% in Florianópolis	Constitution art. 156, II; Florianópolis tax code

This is general information as of November 3, 2026, read in official texts on that date. It is not an assessment of any property or any purchase. For how property fits into a move, see the hub: Moving to Brazil from the US.

Who can buy what

Urban property

The federal restrictions on foreign buyers that we found all concern rural land, the border strip and land owned by the Union. For an apartment or house in a city, outside those cases, the rules we read set no condition based on nationality or residence. What you do need is a CPF (below).

Rural property: INCRA's rules

INCRA, the federal land agency (page modified June 3, 2026), controls the purchase and lease of rural property by foreigners. Its questions and answers (August 2018) say:

• The purchase is barred for a foreign individual who is not resident in Brazil (Q1), and the basic condition is to be a "pessoa natural estrangeira residente no País" (Q2).
• A first purchase or lease by a foreign individual of up to 3 MEI (Módulos de Exploração Indefinida, a regional area unit) outside the border strip needs no INCRA authorization (Q3). A second purchase, of any size, does.
• Above 20 MEI, a land-use project must be presented; a foreign individual may not acquire more than 50 MEI without authorization from Congress (Q5, Q6).
• Rural land owned by foreigners may not exceed 25% of a municipality's area, and people of the same nationality may not own more than 10% of it (Q6).
• All property in the border strip or in a national-security area needs the prior assent of the National Defense Council, whatever its size (Q3).

The MEI is defined per municipality; INCRA publishes the values on its site.

The border strip

The Constitution defines the border strip as the band up to 150 kilometres wide along Brazil's land borders (art. 20, §2). It runs along land borders, not along the coast; the coast has its own federal rules, below.

Coastal land owned by the Union

Along the coast, some land belongs to the Union, mostly the "terrenos de marinha": under Decreto-Lei 9.760/1946, the strip 33 metres inland of the 1831 mean high-tide line, on the coast and around islands (art. 2). Private owners hold these properties under a federal regime, and transferring them has extra steps, set out below.

Step by step

1. Get a CPF

The Receita Federal says people living abroad, Brazilian or foreign, must have a CPF if they hold assets subject to public registration in Brazil, real estate first among them. From the US, you get it at a Brazilian consulate; the procedure is in CPF and RNM.

2. Read the property's registration

In Brazil, the owner is whoever the Registro de Imóveis (the property registry) says is the owner: ownership passes between living persons only by registering the transfer, and until then the seller "continues to be held as owner" (Código Civil, art. 1.245). The registration record of the property is where its owner and any encumbrances appear, which is why buyers start there.

3. Bring the money in

Money from abroad enters through a foreign exchange transaction with an institution authorized by the Banco Central. If you may later request residence through real estate, this step matters: Resolution 36/2018 requires your own funds of foreign origin and a declaration from an authorized institution confirming the international transfer of capital for the purchase. A purchase paid some other way may not serve that route later. See Brazil's Real Estate Residency.

4. Sign the public deed at a notary

A public deed (escritura pública) is essential for transferring real estate worth more than 30 times the highest minimum wage in force (Código Civil, art. 108). It is drawn up by a notary (tabelião). Notaries and registrars are private professionals exercising a public delegation, admitted by public examination, under the Constitution (art. 236).

The deed is written in Portuguese (art. 215, §3). If you do not speak Portuguese and the notary does not understand your language, a sworn public translator must attend as interpreter (art. 215, §4). Foreign documents you bring, such as a US power of attorney, need an apostille and a sworn translation; the apostille steps are in Brazil Digital Nomad Visa for Americans.

5. Pay the ITBI

The ITBI is the municipal tax on paid transfers of real estate between living persons (Constitution, art. 156, II). Each city sets its own rules and rate.

In Florianópolis, the municipal tax code as amended by Lei Complementar 328/2008, read in the LegisWeb reproduction because the city's site did not load, sets:

• 2% on ordinary transfers (art. 285, II);
• 0.5% on the financed balance in purchases under the Sistema Financeiro da Habitação, and 2% on the rest (art. 285, I);
• the base is the "valor venal": the city's updated value for the property, or the value declared in the deed if higher (art. 281, §1).

We read the 2008 text through a secondary host and did not check later amendments, and how cities may set the ITBI base has been disputed in the courts, so confirm the current rule with the city before you rely on it.

6. Register the deed

The transfer is complete only when the deed is registered at the Registro de Imóveis (Código Civil, art. 1.245). Until then, in law, the seller still owns the property.

7. Coastal Union land: the SPU steps

If the property sits on Union land, the federal Secretariat of Union Property (SPU) adds steps:

• Laudêmio. The SPU's calculation service describes it as 5% of the updated value of the Union's land, excluding improvements. The transfer certificate (CAT) can be issued 48 working hours after the laudêmio is paid, if there are no other debts.
• Prior authorization for a foreign buyer. The SPU's service guide (July 2025) says transferring Union property to a foreigner needs the SPU's prior authorization, presented to the registry with the CAT, except when the buyer is a foreign individual and the area is up to 1,000 m². The guide states a service time of up to 60 days.
• Strategic zones. In the border strip, the 100-metre strip along the coast, or within 1,320 metres of military installations, the authorization is an ordinance from the head of the SPU, issued after the local military command is consulted; its silence for 60 days counts as consent.

What it costs

Cost	What it is	Who sets it
ITBI	Municipal transfer tax	Each city; 2% in Florianópolis
Notary fee for the deed	Emolumentos	State law; in Santa Catarina, published each year by the state court's Corregedoria under Lei Complementar 755/2019
Registry fee	Emolumentos for registering the deed	Same state table
Laudêmio	Only on Union land	SPU: 5% of the updated land value
Sworn translation and interpreter	Foreign documents; the deed if needed	The translator

The notary and registry fees depend on the property's value bracket in the state table, so we do not quote them here.

Myths checked against the text

• "Foreigners can't own property in Brazil." Not for urban property under the rules we read. The restrictions concern rural land, the border strip and Union land.
• "Signing the deed makes you the owner." Registration does (Código Civil, art. 1.245).
• "Foreigners can't buy beachfront." The SPU rules add steps and, above 1,000 m² or in strategic zones, a prior authorization. They do not forbid the purchase.
• "Buying gives you a visa." Residence through real estate is a separate request with its own thresholds; see Brazil Permanent Residency.

Where to go from here

• Residence through a property purchase: Brazil's Real Estate Residency.
• Buying in the author's home city, with its coastal rules: Living in Florianópolis.
• The account you will pay from: Opening a Bank Account in Brazil as a Foreigner.
• If you are buying with residency in mind, Residency Through Real Estate in Brazil: A Buyer's Guide covers the rural, border and coastal rules, the closing costs and the questions to ask before you sign.