What it costs to buy property in Haiti
A foreign buyer should budget roughly 4.0% of the purchase price on top of the price itself. No licence or permit is required.
What you pay
- Registration duty (droit d'enregistrement)3.0% of the price$15,000
- Transcription duty (droit de transcription)1.0% of the price$5,000
| On a purchase of | $250,000 | $500,000 | $1,000,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration duty (droit d'enregistrement) | $7,500 | $15,000 | $30,000 |
| Transcription duty (droit de transcription) | $2,500 | $5,000 | $10,000 |
| Total on top of the price | 4.0% | 4.0% | 4.0% |
Can you buy as a foreigner?
No licence required
Transfer is by acte de vente before a notaire, who collects the state duties along with their own fee in a single sum and is responsible for passing the state's share to the DGI. Title verification matters more here than the tax: overlapping and informal claims are common, and a notaire's search is the only real protection.
No approval to wait for
With no permission to obtain, the timeline is set by conveyancing rather than by a government queue.
Take it with you
These figures as a PDF, worked out at the price you enter, with every source and the date it was checked.
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Nearby markets compared
What a foreign buyer pays on top of a $500,000 price, here and in the markets around it nearest in cost.
- Puerto RicoNo licence0.9%–1.4%
- JamaicaNo licence1.8%–3.3%
- HaitiNo licence4.0%
- Dominican RepublicNo licence5.5%–7.5%
- Cayman IslandsNo licence8.0%–8.5%
An estimate for budgeting, not legal or tax advice. These rates are traced to published sources but have not been reviewed by a practitioner in this jurisdiction. Confirm the current position with an attorney before you commit.
State duties only, and a floor rather than a total. Published all-in figures run about 6.5% in Port-au-Prince and up to 12% elsewhere in Haiti; the difference is the notaire's own fee, which is not separately published. Budget well above the figure shown, and treat the wide regional spread as real.
Sources: [1]