President gets sweeping power to ban foreign real estate purchases—with no guardrails
H.R. 3618 — American Land and Property Protection Act · Filed by Mark Alford (R-MO) · Introduced May 29, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill directs the President to prohibit nationals, businesses, and agents of China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, and other designated foreign adversaries from purchasing real estate in the United States. It applies to both residential and commercial property, and covers individuals, companies, and anyone acting as a trustee or agent for these governments.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to restrict foreign state-linked actors from purchasing U.S. real estate. While framed as national security, it is a property-market restriction with significant delegated executive authority and vague enforcement mechanisms.
What the text implies
- The phrase 'such actions as may be necessary' grants the President sweeping, undefined authority to implement restrictions without specifying whether they apply to existing holdings, future purchases, or both, and without defining enforcement mechanisms, penalties, or appeals processes.
- Inclusion of Nicolás Maduro as a named 'foreign adversary' (rather than Venezuela as a nation-state) creates a precedent for naming individuals and raises due-process concerns; it also suggests the bill may be used to target specific political figures rather than nation-states.
The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
U.S. real estate investors and domestic property owners (reduced foreign competition for land); U.S. agricultural land owners (foreign state acquisition of farmland is a stated national-security c