Can foreigners buy real estate in Kazakhstan?

As a realtor, I am asked the same question "Can foreigners buy property in Kazakhstan? What are the rules?" many times.  So, I decided to write a post about it.

For foreign nationals, there are 2 ways to buy property in KZ:

To have a permanent residence in KZ, but this way might take a long time.  And there is no guarantee.

To start a company and buy on the company name.

Our company Этажи, helps with the second way.  This is already a usual practice.  And what would you need to know?  And what they normally don't tell you?...

When you open a firm, you have to do it in the right way.  For instance, "Property" should be mentioned as a type of business activity, and so on.  (Please don't ask me for details, for that you'd better see our company's legal aid.  My task here is to give you a simple and precise explanation).

So, the firm as it is registered in KZ, is treated as a KZ legal entity.  So, all the rules apply as for any other KZ firm.

Now, we are getting to the point where others don't tell you anything.  And you would find out the hard way (after some fines).  TAXes.  The property would be under TAX fees for legal entities, not for personal use.  And they are a bit higher.  Second thing, that you should know, is that you will have to pay taxes once a year, and you will have to calculate it yourself.

The good news is that it is quite easy in KZ.  You just go to a TAX office in your area, and a consultant will help you to calculate and to fill in the numbers.  You can always hire an outsourced accountant too. You can ask me for some recommendations.

There are some rumors that foreigners can buy only а flat.  That might be true for some countries, but NOT true for KZ.  First of all, limitations only apply to the first way (through the permanent residence).  Secondly, there are only limitations for certain types of plots of land.  And only for some passports.

As for people that go via the second way, there are no limitations.

For those of you who know Russian here there are some references for you:

пункт 3, 4 статьи 23 Земельного кодекса (по этим пунктам есть ограничения для покупки земельных участков для иностранцев).

тут о том, как рассчитываются налоги на имущество: https://bankchart.kz/.../nalog_na_imuschestvo_fizicheskih...

- а здесь статья о планируюмых изменениях в законе на 2023 год: https://kapital.kz/.../inostrantsy-ne-rinutsya-skupat...

Статья на русском https://yvision.kz/post/982332

BTW, there will be new rules introduced in 2023, that would lift all the limitations (you will not need a residence, nor firm) for buyers of an apartment over 150 000$