Real Estate Investment

Opening

A foreign national may buy property in Paraguay. No residency, national identity card or Investor Pass is required to acquire it.

What decides whether the transaction goes well is not the permission to buy, but four variables that rarely appear in the same place: whether the title withstands scrutiny; whether the property lies within the border security zone and who the buyer is; whether the price offered bears any relation to what a local buyer would pay; and whether the asset can be sold on the day it needs to be.

This page addresses all four.

Title Verification and Due Diligence

This is the core service. Everything else is secondary if the title does not hold up.

What Is Reviewed

A title and encumbrance search at the Directorate General of Public Registries (Dirección General de los Registros Públicos), now the Unified National Registry (Registro Unificado Nacional): current owner, chain of title, mortgages, attachments, usufructs and interdictions. A title status certificate.

The cadastral record and running account at the National Cadastral Service (Servicio Nacional de Catastro): surface area, boundaries, assessed value, and whether these match the deed. Municipal property tax must be up to date.

For a unit in a condominium building: the co-ownership regulations, the service charges, the condominium association's debts, and the subdivision plan. For rural property: the survey, the georeferencing, any right-of-way easements, access to water, the boundary demarcation with neighbouring landowners, and whether the title originates with INDERT (the National Institute for Rural and Land Development).

And in every case, the property's location relative to the border security zone, together with the buyer's nationality.

What We Look For

That the seller is in fact the party of record. That there is no double registration. That the surface area stated in the title, the cadastral record and the survey do not diverge to a degree that will later prevent the deed from being executed. That there is no open estate awaiting partition. That the purchase agreement has not been signed twice. And that the price stated in the purchase agreement and the price stated in the deed do not create a tax problem or a difficulty in evidencing the source of funds.

Problems That Come Up Frequently

A title "in process" offered as though it were a title. A subdivision without an approved plan. Overlapping plots. Land of INDERT origin presented as full ownership. A seller acting under an expired power of attorney. A condominium regime established over a building that is still, in law, vacant land. And, in the border zone, a company presented as Paraguayan whose majority ownership in fact belongs to Brazilian or Argentine shareholders.

Warning Signs

The seller presses to close before the title search is complete. The plan does not match the cadastral record. Two separate plot numbers exist for the same parcel. Regularisation is proposed for later. The price exists only as a figure in a message, with no purchase agreement. The broker would rather the title were not reviewed by a lawyer independent of the agency. And in rural areas, ownership is explained by family reputation rather than by registration.

The firm issues a title opinion and flags risks. It does not appraise property. It does not represent that the Land Registry will record the transaction. If the report advises against the purchase, the purchase does not proceed.

Commissions and Conflict of Interest

Can a Foreign National Buy

Yes, and without any prior immigration requirements. A valid passport is sufficient. To execute the deed, documents issued abroad must be apostilled and, if not in Spanish, translated by a sworn translator registered in Paraguay. Property may be acquired in your own name or through a Paraguayan company.

The Border Restriction

If you are Argentine, Brazilian or Bolivian, an individual, and you already hold permanent residency in Paraguay, you may acquire rural property within the fifty-kilometre border strip.

That is the point. The rest of this section explains where it comes from, what it does not cover, and where the confusion usually arises.

Law No. 2532/05 establishes a border security zone: fifty kilometres from the land and river frontiers. Within it, and in respect of rural property, Argentine, Brazilian and Bolivian nationals who do not hold permanent residency may not be owners, co-owners or usufructuaries, nor may companies whose capital is majority-held by them. The only other route opened by Article 2 is a decree of the Executive on grounds of public interest, for instance a project generating local employment.

Three things the prohibition does not reach, and which are constantly conflated:

• Urban property within the same strip. An apartment in Encarnación or Ciudad del Este falls outside it.
• A buyer of any other nationality, even for rural property inside the fifty kilometres.
• Rural property outside the strip.

Article 3, as amended by Law No. 2647/05, excludes from the prohibition rights acquired before the law came into force; property received by a bank at judicial auction or in payment in kind; and Argentine, Brazilian or Bolivian nationals who already hold permanent residency in Paraguay. The statute uses the term "permanent settlement": it is the same category. The Ministry of Economy and Finance, in Legal Opinion No. 49/2025, treats that permanent residency as an exception to Article 2.

Permanent residency is not temporary residency. It is not an Investor Pass under way. It is not an identity card still being processed. And it is not enough for a company director to hold the card: where the capital is majority Argentine, Brazilian or Bolivian, Article 2 looks at the company and not at the individual.

Why Corporate Structures Do Not Solve the Problem

Article 2 looks to the majority ownership of capital. A shareholder holding permanent residency does not save a company with bordering-country majority ownership.

Article 4 requires that the shares or securities of such companies be registered and non-endorsable, which is precisely the subject of the legal opinion cited above. Article 5 prohibits the notary from executing a public deed for transactions not authorised under Article 2, so the transaction is blocked before it ever reaches the Land Registry. And Article 8 declares void any act that contravenes the law.

Incorporating a Paraguayan company with a Paraguayan partner added as a matter of convenience, so that a bordering-country buyer can acquire rural land within the zone, is not a solution: it is a void act, and one that a notary is legally barred from executing.

Warning sign: the broker insists that it can be done through a company, and cannot show the ownership of its capital.

Pricing for Foreign Buyers

Foreign clients are frequently quoted prices two or three times higher than a local buyer would pay for the same property. This is not a market rule: it is an asymmetry of information.

In Asunción and Greater Asunción, comparable transactions exist, but the foreign buyer sees them listed in dollar-denominated portals, while the local buyer closes in guaraníes, with a smaller deposit and the deed executed within a month. In Ciudad del Este, Encarnación and the East, the mark-up charged to Brazilian buyers is structural. And in rural areas, the figure circulating by message is not a price: it is an opening position in a negotiation.

How to distinguish a mark-up from the real price, without commissioning a valuation:

Ask for recently closed transactions in the same neighbourhood or the same settlement, not listings. A listing is not a sale.

Compare the assessed value from the Cadastral Service against the price requested. The assessed value is not the market value, but a request that multiplies it many times over in a residential neighbourhood calls for an explanation. In border areas, by contrast, the assessed value is often so out of date that it is not useful as a reference.

Distinguish the listed price, the closing price and the price stated in the deed. If all three do not appear in the same conversation, there is no basis on which to judge the figure.

Be sceptical of the argument that pricing in dollars is justified because the buyer is foreign. The local market also operates in dollars; what it does not do is accept the first figure offered.

In a new condominium development, compare usable floor area, not the initial reference price, which usually corresponds to the least desirable unit or excludes the parking space and service charges.

The firm does not carry out valuations. It can request comparable transactions and tell you whether a figure sits outside the expected range. If you decide to proceed regardless, you do so with that information in view.

How a Purchase Is Structured

Purchase agreement. It is this firm's policy always to document the transaction through a purchase agreement (boleto de compraventa, the private document signed before the public deed) with signatures certified before a notary. The purchase agreement must include a clause making the transaction conditional on the outcome of the title search, and must set a deadline for the various reports.

Reports. Title and encumbrances, cadastral record, municipal standing, condominium status where applicable, and verification of the border zone.

Source of funds and beneficial owner, where the purchase is made through a company or where payment arrives by international transfer. The notary also has duties under anti-money-laundering rules.

Public deed executed before a Paraguayan notary. The foreign buyer signs personally or through a power of attorney. A power of attorney granted abroad requires an apostille and, if not in Spanish, a certified translation. A generic power of attorney that does not describe the property is a recurring problem.

Payment. Transfer to the seller's account, or funds deposited and documented by the notary. Cash in significant amounts is a red flag for the bank and for SEPRELAD, the anti-money-laundering authority.

Registration. Without registration, there is title between the parties but no full standing against third parties. Timeframes vary: a few weeks is normal, and months appear once a file reaches the Registry with problems.

Cadastral update and transfer of the running account into the new owner's name.

What Goes Wrong at Each Stage

Money handed over with no purchase agreement: the seller sells the same property twice. A deed executed on an outdated report: a last-minute attachment surfaces. A power of attorney queried by the Land Registry. A price stated in the deed that differs from what was actually paid, with the resulting withholding incorrectly applied if the seller is not resident. A condominium regime never registered. And in rural areas, a survey that will not close because it conflicts with the neighbouring boundary.

The firm drafts the purchase agreement, carries out the verification, and coordinates with the notary. It is not the Land Registry, and it cannot speed up registration.

Total Costs of a Transaction

Beyond the price itself, this is what should be budgeted for.

VAT. It depends on who is selling. Value-added tax (IVA) applies to the transaction when the seller is a company, a sole proprietorship whose assets include the property, or an undivided estate. It does not apply where the seller is a resident individual not operating a sole proprietorship, which is the most common case in a purchase from a private individual. In that transaction, the notary withholds IRP, personal income tax, on the seller's gain, not VAT.

Where VAT does apply, the law presumes as a matter of law that the minimum value added is 30% of the price, and applies the 5% rate to that base: approximately 1.5% of the sale price, withheld by the notary. Where the seller is not resident, that VAT withholding is applied at 100%, and the non-resident income tax (INR) also applies.

Taxes borne by the seller. A resident individual: IRP withholding equivalent to 2.4% of the price, where assessed on the presumed 30% gain. A non-resident: INR withholding equivalent to 4.5%. These are not costs to the buyer, but they are worth knowing, because an incorrect calculation holds up the deed.

Notarial fees. Set under the tariff of the Bar of Notaries. In significant transactions, 0.75% of the value of the act, plus VAT on the fee, is commonly quoted. Market custom is to divide this between the parties.

Registration and stamp duties, which in practice fall between 0.5% and 1%.

Municipal transfer tax, which depends on the relevant municipality and should be checked with the one that applies.

Certificates, copies, translations and apostilles, which run to a few hundred dollars unless the power of attorney is complex.

Brokerage commission, discussed above. Where the seller pays it, it does not form part of the buyer's outlay, but it does affect the margin the seller has to negotiate.

The firm's fees, set out in writing before the purchase agreement is signed.

The buyer's closing costs typically fall between 2% and 3% of the price, excluding the commission.

After the Purchase

Annual municipal property tax, calculated on the assessed value rather than the market value. Service charges where the property is a condominium unit. Where the property generates income, IRP or IRE (corporate income tax), as applicable, with VAT on the lease where it applies. And social security contributions to the IPS where staff are employed to look after the property.

Exit Liquidity

This is the question almost no one asks before buying, and that surfaces once it is already too late.

The Paraguayan market is thin precisely in the direction in which depth is later needed. Asunción and its central corridor see movement. The rest of Greater Asunción, less so. Ciudad del Este and Encarnación depend on the Brazilian and Argentine economic cycle. The urban interior is slow, and rural land more so still: the next buyer is usually another producer or a fund, not an open market.

Selling as a foreign national follows the same path as buying, and there is no legal restriction tied to foreign status. The restriction is a practical one: few buyers, local mortgage credit that is practically irrelevant to this segment, and listed prices that are not closing prices.

Honest timeframes: a well-located unit in Asunción may sell within weeks or take a year. A peripheral plot, years. Farmland without a survey that closes simply does not sell.

The seller's exit costs include the commission, the notarial fees and the tax on the gain. A buyer who purchased in order to obtain the Investor Pass, and who intends to unwind the position after eighteen months, discovers that property is not liquidated the way a financial asset is.

This matters more for a buyer whose exit is likely to be a relocation decision rather than a portfolio decision: the property may need to be sold at the same moment the family concludes that the move is not working, which is precisely when a thin market is least accommodating.

Liquidity is designed in at the time of purchase, by choosing the type of asset, the city, a clean title and an entry price with a margin. It cannot be improvised at the point of sale.

Buying as an Individual or Through a Company

There is no single answer. There are different consequences.

As an individual, matters are simpler. The deed is granted in the name shown on the passport or identity document. IRP is payable where the property generates income or when it is sold. And property located in Paraguay is subject to Paraguayan succession, under local rules, even where the heirs reside abroad.

For the property route to the Investor Pass, one point matters: the threshold applies per applicant. Splitting a property between spouses to reach the figure does not produce two certificates.

Through a Paraguayan company, the structure makes sense where there are several investors, where the property will be operated through leasing or development, where separating personal assets is the objective, or where the bank in the buyer's home country prefers a corporate vehicle.

The cost is the one that applies to any company: IRE (corporate income tax), IDU on the distribution of profits, accounting, the beneficial-owner declaration, the RUC (taxpayer registration number) and opening the bank account, which is the point where most projects stall. That analysis is set out on the Companies and Foreign Investment page.

Two warnings apply. A company does not get around Law 2532/05: where the majority of its capital belongs to bordering-country nationals, rural property within the zone remains prohibited. And a company that owns a property with no activity, no bank account and no local administration presents the tax authority in the buyer's home country with the same lack-of-substance problem, now attached to a visible asset.

The general rule: a home or a single asset, in your own name, absent a specific reason otherwise. An income-producing property, several partners, or a size that justifies the compliance cost, a company. And in no case should the company be incorporated before the property is found.

The Property Route to the Investor Pass

Resolution No. 283/2026 of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce authorises four investment routes for direct access to permanent residency. The property route requires USD 200,000, with no business plan and no requirement to create employment.

One condition is often overlooked, and it decides many cases: the investment must be directed to an economic activity, excluding personal or family use. Buying the home you intend to live in does not fall within this category. Buying for rental income, development or appreciation does.

The Foreign Investor Certificate is not residency itself: it is the document issued by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC) that grants access to permanent residency before the immigration authority without passing through temporary residency first. The threshold applies per person, is not divided between spouses, and cannot be met by combining different investment routes.

Nor does the property replace the national identity card, the tax residency certificate, or the substance required before the authority in your home country. It buys immigration access, and nothing more.

And there is a question worth asking before the deed is executed, not once the client wants to exit: what maintenance requirements apply to the investment if the property is sold shortly afterwards.

The full immigration process is set out on the Residency and Nationality page, and its fees cover the Foreign Investor Certificate filing and the proceedings before the immigration authority.

Rural Land and Farmland

This is where the agricultural segment finds its best opportunities, and also where money is lost most easily.

Registry Verification

Everything covered in the opening section, plus: a judicial or georeferenced survey that closes against the polygon; the chain of title back to the original title; for a rural subdivision, a plan approved by the Cadastral Service and by the municipality; a right-of-way easement documented in writing rather than resting on custom; and an effective concession for water and power.

Overlapping and Irregular Titles

Two registered titles over the same plot. Titles of INDERT origin offered as full ownership. Settlements with decades of possession and very low rates of formal titling, where being in the process of obtaining title is not the same as holding title. De facto occupation with no registry record. And boundaries that have shifted over decades without ever being surveyed.

Land Reform Property

This is not property traded on the open market. Holding periods and restrictions on transfer apply, and a foreign national does not qualify as an original beneficiary. Acquiring a right of this nature by private purchase agreement is the transaction that later fails to register.

The Border Zone and Leasing

What has already been explained applies: a bordering-country buyer, rural property, within the fifty kilometres, prohibited except by decree or a statutory exception that genuinely fits the case.

One clarification is needed on leasing, because imprecise information circulates on this point. Law 2532/05 does not mention leasing: it prohibits being an owner, co-owner or usufructuary. Decree No. 7525/11 uses the phrase "operating by means of a lease" for the purposes of the inventory it orders, not to extend the prohibition. Usufruct and leasing are distinct concepts under the Civil Code: the former is a right in rem, the latter a personal right.

That said, this firm does not put together that structure for a bordering-country client over rural land within the zone. A lease that in substance replicates a usufruct — an extended term, a nominal rent, an option to purchase, exclusive possession, improvements carried out by the tenant as though an owner — is exactly the kind of arrangement that can be challenged as a sham transaction or as void under Article 8. Leasing is a valid structure where the tenant is not caught by Article 2, or where the land is not rural property within the zone.

Leasing and Remote Management

A rural establishment cannot be managed by messaging from another country. What is needed is a written contract, registrable if it is to be enforced against third parties; rent subject to the applicable withholding if the landlord is not resident; an administrator holding a limited power of attorney; insurance; and compliance with the environmental and health obligations relevant to the activity.

Warning signs in rural transactions: the seller will not agree to a new survey; the price per hectare corresponds to a different area from the one shown in the title; there are occupants said to be leaving; or the broker proposes a company with a local partner added as a matter of convenience.

The firm carries out registry and border-zone verification, and gives an opinion on whether the title can be relied upon. It does not manage the property, nor does it warrant that a neighbouring landowner will not dispute the boundary. Where farmland is the business, an agronomist is needed in addition to the lawyer.

Fees

Review and Report on Unit Purchases

For the purchase of apartments and units in condominium buildings, the comprehensive technical review carries a fixed fee of USD 175, payable once the engagement is confirmed.

It covers review of the contract and its annexes, including its clauses, delivery deadlines and penalties; title verification in the relevant registries, to confirm that the property and the underlying land are in order and free of encumbrances; and review of the developer's corporate documentation, including its corporate resolutions and the authority of the person signing.

The result is a report setting out the legal observations on the situation found.

Intervention and Negotiation

Where the review shows it is necessary to amend the contract, negotiate terms, or intervene with the developer on the client's behalf, the work is billed at USD 120 per hour, with a report of hours worked.

At the client's request, the number of hours can be estimated in advance and a fixed fee agreed covering both stages.

Due Diligence on Other Properties

Transactions involving property other than units in condominium buildings — land, development sites, houses and rural establishments — are quoted on a case-by-case basis, because the scope of the verification depends on the type of asset and the condition of the title.

Comprehensive Milestone-Based Fee

Where the client prefers it, the firm offers a fixed fee covering the entire process: the property search, advice, title verification, drafting the contract, representation under power of attorney, the deed and, where relevant, the residency service.

The price for the package is lower than the sum of the services contracted separately.

It is released in stages, so that you pay only for the phases actually delivered: the search, the negotiation, the contract review, and so on. If a property meeting your criteria is never found, you have paid for the search and nothing more.

This arrangement is set out in writing, with the scope, value and exclusions of each stage defined before you take on any commitment.

What We Do Not Do

We do not appraise property. We can request comparable transactions and tell you whether a price sits outside the expected range.

We do not warrant that the Land Registry will register a transaction, nor how long registration will take.

We do not put together corporate or contractual structures designed to circumvent Law 2532/05.

We do not manage rural establishments, nor do we warrant that a neighbouring landowner will not dispute a boundary.

We do not warrant that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce will issue the Foreign Investor Certificate, nor that a property for personal use will qualify under the property category of the Investor Pass.

And we do not recommend proceeding where title verification produces a result that does not hold up, even where the client asks us to.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a foreign national buy property in Paraguay?

Yes. Residency, a national identity card or an Investor Pass are not required to purchase. A valid passport is sufficient, and documents issued abroad must be apostilled and translated by a sworn translator registered in Paraguay if they are not in Spanish.

Can I buy rural land near the border?

It depends on your nationality and on the nature of the property. Within the fifty-kilometre border zone, nationals of Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia, and companies majority-owned by them, may not be owners, co-owners or usufructuaries of rural property, except by decree of the Executive or under one of the statutory exceptions. The restriction does not apply to urban property or to nationals of non-bordering countries.

I am a European or North American citizen. Does the border restriction affect me?

No. The restriction under Law No. 2532/05 applies to nationals of Paraguay's bordering countries — Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia — and to companies majority-owned by them. Nationals of other countries may acquire rural property inside the fifty-kilometre border zone. This is one of the few respects in which a non-neighbouring foreign buyer is in a better position than a regional one, and it is worth confirming early, because a good deal of the advice circulating on this subject does not make the distinction.

Can I get around this by incorporating a Paraguayan company?

No. The law looks at the majority ownership of capital, requires that shares be registered and non-endorsable, prohibits the notary from executing the deed, and declares the act void.

What if I hold permanent residency?

Law No. 2647/05 excludes from the prohibition the rights of bordering-country nationals holding permanent residency. It must be permanent, not temporary or pending. And the text excludes "the rights" of such nationals; it does not state that they may acquire property. Its scope as authorisation for new purchases admits differing readings, and this firm verifies it case by case with the Land Registry and the notary before proceeding.

How much does the review of an apartment purchase agreement cost?

USD 175, which covers the review of the contract and its annexes, title verification, and review of the developer's corporate documentation, with a report of findings.

What taxes does the buyer pay?

Closing costs typically fall between 2% and 3% of the price, excluding the brokerage commission. VAT does not always apply: it depends on who the seller is. Taxes on the gain are borne by the seller, though an incorrect calculation can hold up the deed.

Should I buy in my own name or through a company?

For a home or a single asset, generally in your own name. For an income-producing property, several investors, or a size that justifies the compliance cost, a company. The decision has tax, inheritance and border-zone consequences that are worth reviewing before signing the purchase agreement.

Does buying property grant me residency?

Only through the Investor Pass route, with an investment from USD 200,000 directed to an economic activity. A property for personal or family use is expressly excluded from that category.

Can I combine two properties, or split it with my spouse, to reach USD 200,000?

No. The threshold applies per applicant and cannot be met by combining different investment routes.

How long does it take to sell property in Paraguay?

It depends on the asset and the city. A well-located unit in Asunción may sell within weeks or take a year. A peripheral plot, years. Farmland without a survey that closes simply does not sell.

Do you charge a commission on the sale?

The firm receives a payment when the client engages the real estate agent it works with, who is the sister of the Founding Partner. Engaging her is optional, is billed separately, and is disclosed to you before you take on any commitment.

What happens if the title verification comes back negative?

The property is not purchased. The report exists precisely so that decision is made before the purchase agreement is signed, not after the deed.