Foreign buyers face two-year occupancy rule in Seoul-area permit zones

For a Vietnamese buyer who does not live in the country, the rules examined here for South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany differ sharply. In the permit zones around Seoul, a foreign buyer of housing must move in and live there. Elsewhere the conditions fall on reporting, stamp duty, transfer tax or withholding on the eventual sale.

South Korea: a permit and two years in the home

In August 2025 the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport designated all of Seoul, 7 districts of Incheon and 23 cities and counties in Gyeonggi province as land transaction permit zones for foreigners buying housing.

On 20 August 2026 the ministry extended the designation by one year, with effect from 26 August 2026 to 25 August 2027. The geographical coverage remained unchanged; following Incheon’s July 2026 reorganisation, it spans nine districts there, excluding the former Dong-gu area within Jemulpo.

A foreigner who obtains a permit must move into the home within four months of the permit date and actually live there for two years after the purchase. In a question-and-answer annex, the ministry says that a foreigner who cannot live in the home for two years after acquiring it cannot acquire it.

If a breach is found, the local authority sets a compliance deadline of up to three months; failure to comply can trigger repeated enforcement charges of up to 10% of the land acquisition price.

On 20 August 2026 the ministry also designated 353 outlying islands as permit zones for foreigners, for national defence purposes.

Japan: purchases reported within 20 days

Under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act, a non-resident who acquires real estate in Japan must submit a report to the Minister of Finance, through the Bank of Japan, within 20 days of the acquisition. For acquisitions on or after 1 April 2026, the Ministry of Finance requires a report for the acquisition of the property itself whatever the purpose.

Until 31 March 2026, property bought for the residence of the non-resident, their relatives or employees, and property bought from another non-resident, did not have to be reported. Some exemptions now remain only for rights relating to real estate, such as leases, and the ministry says a holiday home or second home does not count as residential use for this exemption.

United Kingdom: higher stamp duty rates

In England and Northern Ireland, an individual is non-resident for stamp duty land tax if they were not present in the UK for at least 183 days in the 12 months before the purchase, and pays rates 2 percentage points higher than a resident, in force since 1 April 2021. The surcharge does not apply in Scotland or Wales.

A sole individual buyer may reclaim the surcharge by meeting the 183-day test during any continuous 365-day period within a window running from 364 days before to 365 days after the purchase, including qualifying days before it; the return must be amended within two years of the purchase.

Higher rates for additional dwellings generally apply to a purchase of £40,000 or more when the new home will not be the only residential property worth £40,000 or more that the buyer owns anywhere in the world. If a previous main home has not been sold by completion, the higher rates are payable at first; selling it within three years can allow a refund.

From 1 April 2025 the higher rates for additional dwellings run from 5% on the first £125,000 to 17% on the portion above £1.5 million. Where the non-resident surcharge also applies, the bands become 7%, 9%, 12%, 17% and 19%.

United States: withholding when a foreign person sells

The real-estate rules of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States exclude the purchase of a single housing unit, with incidental fixtures and land; that exclusion does not by itself settle eligibility under every other law.

A federal withholding obligation can arise on sale: when a foreign person sells US real property, the buyer must generally withhold 15% of the amount realised, as a collection mechanism rather than the final tax.

Where an individual buyer acquires the home as a residence, no withholding is required at a price of USD 300,000 or less, and the rate is 10% above that up to USD 1 million.

A home counts as a residence when the buyer or a family member has definite plans to live there for at least half the days it is used in each of the first two 12-month periods after the transfer, not counting days it stands vacant.

The executor of a non-resident non-US citizen’s estate must file an estate tax return if US-situated assets exceed USD 60,000 at death; that is a filing threshold, not a tax bill.

Germany: transfer tax set by each state

A Japanese government comparison dated October 2025 states that Germany has no restrictions on the acquisition or use of real estate.

Real estate transfer tax is set by each federal state, and in 2026 ranges from 3.5% in Bavaria to 6.5% in Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein, according to Germany Trade and Invest. A 2015 study published by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees states that buying a property does not entitle an investor to a residence title.

What the rules examined here show

Foreign buyers granted housing permits under the capital-region designation in South Korea must occupy the homes they buy for two years. The other obligations described here, reporting in Japan, higher purchase taxes in England and Northern Ireland, withholding on sale in the United States and transfer tax in Germany, are examples of what a non-resident faces rather than a complete list.

Limits of this reading

Whether South Korea exempts foreign permanent residents from its permit zones could not be established from the official sources read for this article.