Maldives and the Indian Ocean Islands for Foreign Buyers (2026): Leasehold, Resort Branded Residences, and Seychelles vs Maldives
Published on: June 18, 2026
A beachfront villa in the Maldives or a freehold-by-conversion condo in the Seychelles, the dream is the same, but the legal machinery is completely different from buying on the mainland. In the Indian Ocean's island markets, you rarely "own" land outright. You acquire long leases, branded resort residences, and government-sanctioned interests. Here's how foreign buyers actually get in, and how the two flagship markets compare.
Key facts at a glance
- Maldives: no freehold for foreigners, land is state-owned. You acquire leasehold rights up to 99 years, usually as a strata lease in a resort villa or apartment, with government approval required for every transaction.
- Seychelles: foreigners can buy private property, but only with a government "sanction," which carries a duty on top of stamp duty. Condominiums in approved developments get a far lower rate.
- Branded residences (resort-managed villas with rental programmes) are the dominant product for international buyers in both markets.
- These are lifestyle and yield plays, not residency shortcuts, though both countries run separate investor-residence routes.
Why island markets work differently
On most of the mainland, you buy a title and you own it. In the Indian Ocean's island states, sovereignty over a tiny land base makes governments protective: they want foreign capital and tourism revenue without surrendering ownership of the islands themselves. The result is a set of mechanics built around leasehold, strata title, and government sanction rather than outright freehold. Understand those three words and you understand the market.
This is a different animal from the region's other foreign-buyer islands. Our guides to Mauritius and Zanzibar cover markets where freehold-within-a-scheme (Mauritius) or leasehold via an investment authority (Zanzibar) are the norm. The Maldives and Seychelles complete the Indian Ocean cluster, and they each have their own rulebook.
Maldives: leasehold, strata, and the resort model
What you can actually own
Under the Land Act (Act No. 1 of 2002, revised 2015) and the Constitution, land in the Maldives belongs to the state and the island communities. Foreign nationals cannot hold freehold title. What they can hold is a long-term leasehold right, a right to occupy, use, build on, and earn income from a property for a fixed term, with the ultimate ownership remaining with the state.
Leases run up to 99 years (the tourism-sector norm is often shorter, around 50 years, with extension provisions). Every foreign property transaction requires government approval, and foreign investment is concentrated in tourism-designated zones and integrated tourist resorts rather than ordinary residential areas.
The strata-lease villa: how foreigners buy in practice
The realistic route for an individual buyer is the strata lease within a resort. All Maldivian resort property sits under long-term leasehold rights granted by the government to developers, governed mainly by the Tourism Act (Law No. 2/99) and Strata Regulation. A resort operator can sub-lease individual units, water villas, beach villas, apartments, under a strata property model, allowing foreign individuals and entities (including wholly foreign-owned Maldives companies) to acquire long-term leasehold rights to a specific unit.
What you get: the exclusive right to use and occupy that unit for the term of the lease, the furnishings inside it as your personal property, and, under most schemes, a rental/leaseback programme where the resort lets the villa to guests when you're not using it and pays you a share. What you do not get: freehold of the land, the building, or fixtures. The lease is tied to the unit and cannot exceed the term of the underlying head lease.
Tax and a useful 2024 ruling
A buyer-friendly development: as of November 2024, the Supreme Court of the Maldives held that transfers of strata leasehold interests are exempt from GST, treated as transfers of long-term lease rights rather than supplies of goods or services, so no GST on the purchase price of a strata lease. Elsewhere in the system, expect a stamp duty on lease transfers, T-GST on tourist rental income (operators register with MIRA), and a possible 10% Capital Gains Withholding Tax on the sale price for non-residents. Take local tax advice on the holding structure.
Residency
Buying a strata lease can come with stay benefits, but does not grant permanent residence or citizenship. The Maldives runs separate investor routes, for example a residence permit tied to a USD 250,000 investment in an approved development (5-year renewable, family included), and a higher-tier programme launched with Henley & Partners requiring USD 5–10 million. Treat the property and the visa as separate decisions.
Seychelles: private purchase, but you need a "sanction"
The Seychelles offers something the Maldives does not, the ability for foreigners to acquire private immovable property, including in some cases freehold, but it gates this behind a government approval process.
The sanction process
Under the Immovable Property (Transfer Restriction) Act, a non-Seychellois individual or company may purchase privately owned immovable property (or rights in it) only with a "sanction" granted by the Government of Seychelles. A granted sanction is valid for one year, within which the transaction must be completed and registered. In practice the process takes around three months, and foreign-led projects also need development permission from the planning authority and, for business developments, project approval from the Seychelles Investment Board.
Important limits:
- Non-Seychellois cannot buy freehold State land (with specific exceptions, notably under the Villas Policy and certain condominium conversions).
- Non-Seychellois cannot acquire freehold on outlying islands, only long lease with sanction.
What it costs
Two layers stack on a Seychelles purchase by a foreigner:
- Stamp duty: 5%, applied equally to foreigners and locals.
- Sanction duty on top, which depends heavily on the asset type. Standard residential property attracts a high rate (broadly in the 11–12% of market value range), while condominium units in approved developments are charged a far lower 1.5%, a deliberate incentive to channel foreign buyers into condo and resort-style developments. For leases, the sanction duty is calculated on the annual rental value. Investments in tourism, commercial, or other bona fide projects, and certain spousal/family transfers, can be exempt from the sanction duty.
There's also a floor: a non-Seychellois generally cannot buy a condominium unit valued below a set per-square-metre threshold, keeping foreign buyers in the higher-value segment.
The Eden Island model
The flagship foreign-buyer destination is Eden Island, a marina development where international buyers acquire villas and apartments, the kind of scheme where condo treatment and, in some cases, leasehold-to-freehold conversion apply. It is the template for how the Seychelles invites foreign capital: into defined, high-end, sanction-approved developments rather than the open market.
Maldives vs Seychelles: which fits which buyer?
| Maldives | Seychelles | |
|---|---|---|
| Freehold for foreigners | No, leasehold only | Limited (condos/approved schemes can be freehold) |
| Primary route | Strata lease in a resort, up to 99 yrs | Sanctioned private purchase / condo |
| Government gate | Approval for every transaction | "Sanction" under the Transfer Restriction Act (~3 months) |
| Headline acquisition cost | Stamp duty on lease transfer (strata transfer GST-exempt) | 5% stamp duty + sanction duty (1.5% condos, ~11–12% residential) |
| Dominant product | Branded resort villas with leaseback | Marina/condo developments (e.g. Eden Island) |
| Best for | Pure resort-yield and trophy water villas | Buyers wanting a more ownership-like, freehold-ish condo |
Choose the Maldives if you want a branded resort villa with a managed rental programme and accept that you're buying a long lease, not the land. Choose the Seychelles if you want something closer to genuine ownership, a freehold or long-lease condo in an approved development, and can absorb the sanction process and duty.
The branded-residence thread
Both markets are, at the individual-buyer level, branded-residence markets: resort-managed villas and apartments sold with hospitality services and rental programmes attached. That's the product luxury and investment buyers are actually purchasing in the Indian Ocean, not bare land. The appeal is hands-off yield and lifestyle access; the risks are lease-renewal terms, developer/operator dependence, and exit liquidity. Read the head-lease term, the management agreement, and the rental-split mechanics as carefully as the price.
Frequently asked questions
Can foreigners buy property in the Maldives?
Not freehold, land is state-owned. Foreigners acquire long-term leasehold rights (up to 99 years), most commonly as a strata lease in a resort villa or apartment, with government approval required for every transaction.
Can foreigners own property in the Seychelles?
Yes, but only with a government "sanction" under the Immovable Property (Transfer Restriction) Act. Condominiums in approved developments can be held freehold; outlying-island freehold is not available to foreigners.
How much does it cost a foreigner to buy in the Seychelles?
A 5% stamp duty applies to everyone, plus a sanction duty for foreigners, around 1.5% for condominium units in approved developments and substantially higher (broadly 11–12% of value) for standard residential property.
Does buying property in the Maldives give residency?
No, not automatically. The Maldives has separate investor-residence programmes (for example a USD 250,000 investment in an approved development), distinct from the property purchase itself.
What is a strata lease in the Maldives?
It's a long-term leasehold right to a specific resort unit (a villa or apartment) under the Tourism Act and Strata Regulation. You get exclusive use of the unit for the lease term, but not freehold of the land or building.
Explore island and luxury markets
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This article is general information for international buyers, not legal, tax, or investment advice. Island property law, sanction duties, lease terms, and tax treatment vary and change over time. Engage local counsel in the Maldives or Seychelles and review the full head-lease and management documents before committing.
A note on the numbers: where no source is named, the market figures in this article (prices, yields, costs) are indicative estimates compiled from publicly available market data and industry reporting at the time of writing. Markets move and rules change, so treat them as a starting point and verify current figures with official sources before acting on them.
