Summary
Foreigners buy property in Honduras much like locals do: in their own name, through a notary deed, with about 4% to 8% of the price in buying costs. The big exception is the coast and the islands, where the law only lets you own one urban home on up to 3,000 m².
That limit comes from Article 107 of the Constitution, which reserves a 40 km strip along the coasts and borders, plus all the islands, for Hondurans by birth. If you buy an empty plot there, you have 36 months to finish a house or pay a 20% yearly surcharge.
You don't need a visa or residency to buy. You need a tax number (RTN), which the tax office gives free the first time, with your passport and a proof of address. Buying doesn't give you residency: the investor permit asks for $50,000.
A clean purchase takes roughly 30 to 90 days from accepted offer to registered title, and two to four months is common on Roatán. Use a lawyer who works for you, not just the notary, who is often picked by the seller.
The title is where deals go wrong: the US State Department estimates about 80% of private land in Honduras is untitled or badly titled. Get the folio real and a fresh lien certificate before you pay anything.
Plan to pay cash. Ficohsa lists home loans at 13% in lempiras over up to 30 years, but no bank publishes terms for non-resident foreigners, and the central bank raised its rate to 6.00% in September 2026.
Wire the money through banks and keep every statement. In April 2026, police at San Pedro Sula airport seized $10,168 from a traveler who had not declared it properly.
Late 2026 favors cash buyers on Roatán: closed sales fell 26% in the first half of 2026, and homes sold 7.7% to 10.1% below their last asking price.
On a $182,000 apartment, the 1.5% transfer tax alone is $2,730. Yearly property tax is low: L 3.50 per L 1,000 of cadastral value in Tegucigalpa, about $391 on a home assessed at L 3 million.
Renting it out: a non-resident owner has 25% of the rent withheld, a resident pays 10% once rent passes L 15,000 a month, and short stays classed as tourist lodging add 15% sales tax and a 4% tourism tax.
Bottom line: check the 40 km rule first, pay for your own title check, keep about 6% of the price aside for buying costs, and open about 10% under asking on any listing that has been sitting.
Ask a lawyer in
Honduras, for free.
They check the title and the rules before you pay anything.
Message a proFirst, check what the law lets you own, and where
What property types can foreigners legally buy in Honduras right now?
Houses, villas, apartments, condos, townhouses, residential lots and homes in gated communities are all open to foreigners in Honduras. What changes the answer is where the property sits.
Article 107 of the Constitution reserves a 40 km strip along the land borders and the coasts, plus all islands, cays and reefs, for Hondurans by birth. That covers Roatán, Utila, Guanaja, Tela, La Ceiba, Trujillo and Puerto Cortés.
Inside that strip, Decree 90-90 lets a foreign individual buy one urban home on up to 3,000 m², condos included, for their own use. Outside it, in Tegucigalpa and most inland towns, you buy like a Honduran. For San Pedro Sula and anything near the coast, ask the notary to confirm in writing whether the plot falls inside the 40 km strip.
We cover the legal side in detail in our article on whether foreigners can own property in Honduras. Here we focus on how a purchase actually goes.
Can I own land in my own name in Honduras right now?
Yes. Outside the restricted strip, a foreigner can hold a lot or a house in their own name, with full ownership (dominio pleno), and without residency.
Inside the strip, the only clean route for an individual is the Decree 90-90 exception: urban, residential, up to 3,000 m², and only one. Rural land, bigger plots and several units need a tourism project declared to the Honduran Tourism Institute (IHT).
If you buy an empty urban plot under 90-90, the house must be finished within 36 months. After that, the decree charges a surcharge of 20% a year on the appraised value until it's done.
So don't treat a lot on Roatán like a lot outside Tegucigalpa. The first one comes with a building deadline and a cap; the second doesn't.
What other ownership rules should I know in Honduras?
A signed contract isn't ownership. You own the property once the public deed is registered at the Instituto de la Propiedad, on the property's folio real.
There is no condo quota for foreigners, but a condo on the coast or on an island still has to fit the Decree 90-90 conditions.
Putting the property in a Honduran company with foreign shareholders, or in a Honduran friend's name, doesn't get around Article 107. The first is still covered by the rule; the second makes your friend the owner.
Nothing changed in 2026: we found no reform of Article 107 or Decree 90-90 under President Nasry Asfura, in office since January 27, 2026.
What’s the biggest ownership mistake foreigners make in Honduras right now?
Assuming that a beach or island property marketed to foreigners is automatically legal for you to own and register. If the plot is over 3,000 m², rural, or your second one in the strip, you may pay for a contract you can't register.
The other classics: buying a possession right instead of a registered title, ignoring ejido or municipal land claims, skipping the folio real, and not checking the boundaries on the ground. The US State Department estimates about 80% of private land in Honduras is untitled or badly titled.
And Próspera, the private ZEDE on Roatán: the Supreme Court declared ZEDEs unconstitutional on September 20, 2024, Próspera keeps operating and disputes it, and on September 21, 2026 the state attorney filed a criminal complaint against two of its officials. Buying a title there is a legal bet, not a normal purchase.
Your visa, residency and renting it out: what your status changes
Do I need a specific visa to buy property in Honduras right now?
No. You can buy on a tourist entry, and residency doesn't change what you're allowed to buy.
What you do need is an RTN, the Honduran tax number, used for the deed and the tax filings. For a foreigner it takes a passport and an original proof of address; the tax office (SAR) issues it free the first time and on the spot once the file is complete (TuNota, October 11, 2026). You can pre-register online, but you still pick it up in person.
The usual document set: passport, RTN, marital-status papers if relevant, an apostilled power of attorney if you sign remotely, proof of funds, and the seller’s property documents. Papers in English may need an official translation.
Does buying property help me get residency and citizenship in Honduras?
Not on its own. Honduras has no property golden visa; a home can support an application, but you still have to fit a category.
The usual ones, according to the Library of Congress (February 5, 2026): investor, from $50,000 (about L 1,340,000) of qualifying investment; rentista, $2,500 (about L 67,100) a month of stable income; pensionado, $1,500 (about L 40,300) a month of pension. A 2025 exceptional regime can consider half these amounts, but it’s discretionary.
Citizenship comes later, through years of legal residence and naturalization, not through a deed.
Can I legally rent out property on my visa in Honduras right now?
Yes, passive rent is fine, and you don't need to live in Honduras to collect it. Running the rental yourself in the country (check-ins, cleaning, guests) starts to look like work, which a tourist stay doesn't cover.
Most foreign owners hire a local manager. Before you buy, read the condo rules on short stays, and ask whether the unit would be classed as tourist lodging, because that changes the taxes (see below).
Ask a lawyer in
Honduras, for free.
Debts, liens, missing papers: they check before you sign.
Message a proHow does a purchase actually go, step by step?
What are the exact steps to buy property in Honduras right now?
The order that protects you: pick the property, hire your own lawyer, get your RTN, check the 40 km rule, pull the folio real, the lien certificate and the cadastre, sign a purchase agreement with conditions, pay a refundable deposit, sign the public deed before a notary, pay taxes and fees, register the deed, then switch the municipal, condo and utility accounts to your name.
The 1.5% transfer tax must be paid within three days of signing the deed, or a 20% penalty applies, so agree in writing who pays it before closing day.
You don't have to be in Honduras for the signing if you give a narrow, apostilled power of attorney to someone you trust. A first-time buyer should still visit at least once to see the boundaries, the access road, water and power.
Count on roughly 30 to 90 days from accepted offer to registered title for a clean file. On Roatán, brokers talk about two to four months, and old titles, inheritances, a company or bank financing all add time.
Do I need a lawyer or a notary to buy property in Honduras?
A notary is required, because the sale is signed as a public deed that then goes to the registry. In Honduras notaries are lawyers, but the notary on the deed is often chosen by the seller or the developer.
So pay a second lawyer who works only for you. Put in writing what they check: the 40 km rule and 90-90 eligibility, folio real, liens, municipal tax clearance, cadastre, the seller’s right to sell, and the registration follow-up.
On Roatán, expect about 1% to 1.5% of the price for that lawyer, on top of 1% to 2% for the notary (Ana Flores Realtor, June 2026).
What checks should I run so I don’t buy a problem property in Honduras?
How do I verify title and ownership history in Honduras right now?
Through the Instituto de la Propiedad and its SINAP and SURE registry tools. Ask for the folio real or an official registry certificate: it shows the owner, the description of the property, the rights recorded on it and its history.
Look back at least 10 years, more if the land was inherited, subdivided, ejido land or on the coast.
Walk away if the seller, the folio real, the cadastre, the fences on the ground and the person living there don’t all match. With about 80% of private land untitled or badly titled, this check is not a formality.
How do I confirm there are no liens in Honduras right now?
Get a fresh "constancia de libertad de gravamen" from the Instituto de la Propiedad, dated a few days before closing, and have your lawyer read every annotation on the folio real.
Ask about mortgages, seizures, court notes, easements, family claims and filings waiting at the registry.
Some debts never show in the registry: unpaid municipal tax, condo arrears and utility bills. Ask for a municipal solvency certificate, a letter from the condo association and the last bills.
How do I check zoning and permitted use in Honduras right now?
Start with the cadastre and building-permit office of the municipality where the property sits.
Ask for the cadastral file, the land-use confirmation or zoning map, and the building-permit history tied to the clave catastral.
The common trap is a home that is registered correctly but can’t legally be extended, split or rented short term the way you planned.
Ask an agent who knows
Honduras, for free.
They know how buyers here really pay.
Message a proCan I get a mortgage as a foreigner in Honduras, and on what terms?
Do banks lend to foreigners for homes in Honduras?
Rarely, and not on published terms. Banks lend to residents whose income they can check; we found no verified mortgage offer for non-resident foreigners in 2026.
For local borrowers, BAC advertises a 10% to 20% down payment and terms up to 30 years. On a $182,000 apartment, even 20% is $36,400 (about L 977,000), and a non-resident should expect to be asked for more, if the bank says yes at all.
What banks look at: verifiable income, RTN, credit history, where the money comes from, and a clean title the bank can take as collateral.
Which banks are most foreigner-friendly?
If you have residency and local income, start with BAC Credomatic, Banco Ficohsa, Banco Atlántida and Davivienda. They have the biggest networks and the clearest home-loan products.
Non-residents can ask, but expect more paperwork, a bigger down payment and a close look at the source of funds. Most foreign buyers pay cash or borrow at home against another property.
What mortgage rates are foreigners offered?
As a benchmark, Banco Ficohsa’s standard home loan in lempiras was priced at 13% a year in its June 2026 tariff, over up to 30 years. That’s one product, not a market average, and a foreigner would likely pay more.
At 13% over 30 years, borrowing $145,600 (80% of a $182,000 apartment, about L 3,910,000) costs about L 43,200 a month, around $1,610.
Credit is getting dearer, not cheaper: the central bank raised its policy rate from 5.75% to 6.00% in September 2026 to fight inflation of 6.28% over a year. A dollar loan avoids lempira risk but usually comes with stricter conditions.
How do you get the money to Honduras without a problem?
Wire it from a bank account in your name, and keep the trail: the statements, the origin of the money (a sale, savings, a loan) and the wire confirmations. The notary, the bank and the registry can all ask where the money comes from, and the deed has to match what you actually paid.
Never carry cash. In April 2026, anti-drug police at San Pedro Sula airport seized $10,168 from a traveler who had not declared it properly and could not justify where it came from (La Prensa, April 25, 2026).
Don't send a deposit straight to a seller you've never met. Pay it into your lawyer’s or the notary’s account, with a written agreement saying when you get it back: bad title, liens, a failed 40 km or 90-90 check.
Currency: the lempira has slipped slowly against the dollar, from about 26.37 in early January 2026 to about 26.85 now, roughly 2%. That’s a slow slide, not a crisis; if you hold dollars and the price is in lempiras, it works slightly in your favor.
Think about getting the money out too. When a non-resident sells, the buyer withholds 4% of the price as an advance on the 10% capital-gains tax (PwC, August 2026), so keep your purchase deed and receipts to prove your gain. Sending the proceeds abroad goes through the same bank checks as bringing them in.
Is late 2026 a good time for a foreigner to buy in Honduras?
For a cash buyer, timing is on your side, at least on Roatán. MLS closings fell 26% in number and 32% in value in the first half of 2026 compared with the first half of 2025, and there were 3.7 new listings for every sale in the second quarter.
Sellers are cutting: about one active listing in four has been reduced, by 15% on average. Homes that never cut their price still sold 7.7% below their last asking price, and reduced ones 10.1% below. On the $363,000 median Roatán sale, that’s about $28,000 to $36,700.
On the mainland, the numbers are asking prices, not sales: TuLugar listings in October 2026 put a 2-bedroom apartment at a median of $182,000 and a 3-bedroom house at $223,000. Treat them as a starting point for negotiation.
What works against you: dearer credit (6.00% policy rate, 6.28% inflation), titles you have to check one by one, and crime, which is falling but still high at 26.2 homicides per 100,000 people in 2025. On the plus side, Honduras rejoined the ICSID arbitration system on August 16, 2026.
What to do: open about 10% under asking on listings that have sat for months, keep the deposit refundable until the title checks clear, ask for two years of condo accounts, and stay out of Próspera unless you can afford to lose the money.
Ask a lawyer in
Honduras, for free.
Taxes and fees on top of the price, before you sign.
Message a proWhat will taxes, fees, and ongoing costs look like in Honduras?
What are the total closing costs as a percent?
Plan on about 4% to 8% of the price (Trolto, September 2026). Roatán brokers quote 5% to 6% all in. We would budget 6% unless your lawyer has already seen a clean title.
The pieces: the 1.5% transfer tax (on the higher of the price or the cadastral value; the law puts it on the seller, but buyers often pay it in practice), registry fees of L 200 plus L 1.50 per L 1,000 (about 0.15%), the notary at about 1% to 2%, and your own lawyer.
On a $182,000 (L 4,890,000) apartment: the transfer tax is $2,730 (L 73,300), the registry about $280 (L 7,530), and the full 4% to 8% comes to $7,280 (L 195,000) to $14,560 (L 391,000).
The agent’s commission is normally paid by the seller and negotiable; there’s no official rate.
What annual property tax should I budget?
Property tax is local and low. Tegucigalpa charges L 3.50 per L 1,000 of cadastral value on urban property and San Pedro Sula L 3.00 (2026 plans). A home assessed at L 3,000,000 pays about L 10,500 ($391) a year in Tegucigalpa and L 9,000 ($335) in San Pedro Sula.
The cadastral value is usually below the market price. On Roatán, RE/MAX puts the bill for a 3-bedroom house at around $800 (L 21,500) a year.
How is rental income taxed for foreigners?
A resident owner pays 10% on residential rent once it passes L 15,000 (about $560) a month. A non-resident owner has 25% withheld on Honduran rent.
Short stays classed as tourist lodging add 15% sales tax (ISV) and the 4% tourism tax. On October 4, 2026, the tourism minister said Airbnb-style hosts should pay like hotels and that the tax office was working on it; no new rule had been published by October 22, 2026.
You’ll need your RTN and a local accountant, especially if a platform or a manager collects the rent for you.
What insurance is common and how much?
The standard home policy is fire and allied lines, usually extended to earthquake, hurricane, windstorm and flood.
Location drives the price: coast, island, flood zone, an older or lighter build. We found no published 2026 premium we could verify, so get a written quote before you sign, not after. Banks will require one if you borrow.
In a condo, check what the fee already covers: at Blue Vista in West End, the $300 monthly fee includes building insurance (MLS listing, September 2026).
Our methodology
This article explains how a foreigner actually buys and owns a home in Honduras in 2026: the legal limits, the paperwork, the checks, the financing, moving the money and the yearly costs.
The rules come from the legal texts: Article 107 of the Constitution and Decree 90-90, read on the Tribunal Superior de Cuentas library. Taxes come from the tax office (SAR) and PwC; residency thresholds from the Library of Congress (February 5, 2026); bank terms from Banco Ficohsa’s June 2026 tariff and BAC’s home-loan page.
Prices come from the Roatán MLS analysis for Q2 2026 (sales) and TuLugar (asking prices, October 19, 2026). Buying costs combine official rates with Roatán broker guides and a September 2026 national guide. Examples are our own calculations from these figures.
We checked these figures in October 2026. Conversions use about 26.85 lempiras per US dollar (and about 30.15 lempiras per euro where euros appear).
Limits: no bank publishes terms for non-resident foreigners, we found no verifiable 2026 insurance premium, timelines are typical ranges rather than official deadlines, and the Próspera situation is still moving. This is not legal advice; have a Honduran lawyer confirm everything for your own deal.
Key sources used for this analysis include the Constitution of Honduras, Decree 90-90, the Property Law, SINAP, Instituto de la Propiedad applications, PGR deed requirements, SAR RTN guidance, TuNota on RTN requirements, the SAR transfer-tax guide, the SAR rental-tax FAQ, PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, the Library of Congress, the US State Department 2025 Investment Climate Statement, Banco Ficohsa’s June 2026 tariff, BAC Credomatic home loans, CNBS data, El Heraldo on the BCH rate, La Tribuna on inflation, El Heraldo on the lempira, Trolto on 2026 closing costs, Ana Flores Realtor, RE/MAX Roatán, The Rio Times, the Roatán MLS Q2 2026 analysis, TuLugar, the AMDC Plan de Arbitrios 2026, the San Pedro Sula Plan de Arbitrios 2026, AMDC real estate procedures, La Prensa on the airport seizure, La Prensa on Airbnb taxes, La Prensa on ICSID, Próspera’s legal disclosure, the Policía Nacional, ASSA Honduras.
Ask an agent who knows
Honduras, for free.
They see what’s selling this month, not last year.
Message a pro
