We are pleased to announce the sale of Fundo Los Leones located in the Aysen Province of Chile. Once owned by Douglas and Kris Tompkins, this ecological jewel rests between the Palena River, Pitipalena Fjord and the Pacific Ocean and is recognized as one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world. Fundo Los Leones was one of the Tompkins’ first ranches in Patagonia. Since then, the Tompkins family has purchased over a million acres in Chile (including Jeinimeni) and just this year made a donation of 1 million acres to Chile to expand its national park system.
“Having explored this property and region for the past 15 years with friends and family, it is wonderful to know we have found the next steward to take on the mantle started by the Tompkins,” noted Ken Mirr, Broker and Owner of Mirr Ranch Group.
The Chilean government has always been a friend to foreign ownership of land and a supporter of tourism. It has made it easy to invest in land through fewer regulatory controls on foreign ownership and transparency in export and import legislation. Found out more about investing in Chile from Heraldo Muñoz, Foreign Minister of Chile.
Mirr Ranch Group has had a lot of success in Chilean sales due to the legislation in place. We predict that the new Macri administration in Argentina will have a similar impact on Argentine sales.
Until recently, Argentina had made it extremely difficult for foreigners to own land. The last administrations cut Argentina off from the rest of the globe by focusing on domestic business and ownership and created legislation that hindered foreign purchases of land. Since 2011, it has been difficult to close sales in Argentina due in large part to a law passed by the Fernandez administration that limited foreign ownership to 1,000 hectares, only 15% of Argentina’s land could be owned by foreign entities, restricted ownership of rural lands containing lakes and rivers, and capped foreign possession of land in each region.
That is all about to change. The new Macri administration looks to eliminate a majority of legislation that hinders foreign ownership of land in Argentina. Argentina will no longer require foreigners to obtain a certificate of authorization to receive shares from Argentine entities and if a foreigner owns more than 1,000 hectares or a body of water they can transfer ownership to subsidiary companies or change the agriculture use to meet the existing regulation. Although most of the former legislation still exists, officials expect that the current controls that hinder foreign ownership will be modified by the end of the year.
“We see continued opportunities to represent and sell properties in South American and Patagonia and especially in Argentina over the next several years with the Macri administration reducing some of the barriers to foreign investment and their focus on increasing tourism,” explained Ken.
It has never been a better time to own land in Patagonia. Check out our portfolio today.
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