Buying a house in Colombia: foreigners may, ownership passes on registration

Yes, as a foreigner you may buy a house in Colombia. Article 100 of the constitution gives foreigners the same civil rights as Colombians; only the law can limit that, for reasons of public order. The Cancillería counts on it itself: anyone who buys a home in their own name worth at least 350 minimum wages can get an investor visa on it.

Two things decide whether it goes well. You are only the owner once the deed is in the public register. And the money you bring from the Netherlands must take the official route if you want to use the house for your visa.

What	Amount or deadline in 2026	Source
Title certificate (certificado de tradición y libertad), electronic	23,000 pesos	SNR
Title certificate, on paper	24,300 pesos	SNR
Home for the M Inversionista visa	at least 350 minimum wages: 612,816,750 pesos	Cancillería
Impuesto predial, the yearly municipal tax	the municipality's rate, on the cadastral value	Ley 44 de 1990
Gain on a sale after at least two years of ownership	15% ganancia ocasional	Estatuto Tributario, art. 300, 314, 316
Gain on a sale within two years	ordinary income, at the ordinary rate	Estatuto Tributario, art. 300

When are you the owner?

You buy a home with an escritura pública, a notarial deed. That deed is then entered at the Oficina de Registro de Instrumentos Públicos, the land registry for ownership. The registry statute, Ley 1579 of 2012, expressly calls that registration the means by which ownership of real estate passes. Until that registration the house is therefore not yours, even if you have already paid.

Every plot has a folio de matrícula, its own sheet in the register. It shows the owners, mortgages, attachments and restrictions. The extract is called the certificado de tradición y libertad. The Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro (SNR) charges 23,000 pesos for it in 2026, electronically. Request it before you sign anything, and request it again just before the deed.

What do you have to do with the money from the Netherlands?

If you, as a foreigner, buy a house with money from abroad, that is a foreign direct investment according to the Banco de la República, the central bank. Such an investment goes through the exchange market, so through a bank allowed to deal in foreign currency, and is registered with the Banco de la República. In a concept from 2015 the bank ruled the other way round: the purchase of a plot of land by an American already living in Colombia, from another resident, was not a foreign investment. No foreign money crossed the border.

If you want to use the house for the M Inversionista visa, the Cancillería asks for the extract from the Banco de la República's Sistema de Información Cambiaria showing the registration. Money that comes in outside the exchange market does not produce that registration. Arrange this with your bank before you transfer the money, not after.

For the visa the house must also be in your name only, and you must keep it for the whole term of the visa. If you buy together with your partner, check in advance whether the Cancillería accepts joint ownership. The visa rules are in the residence routes.