Maldives: Atolls Up for Grab

You think of Maldives and you can picture panoramic views of white sand beaches and gorgeous aquamarine waters.

- AditiDesai

Thousands of foreign tourist’s flock to the Maldives every year to take advantage of the idyllic locales that are commonplace in the 1,192 tiny coral islands around the country.

For any foreigner looking for a base in the Maldives, the only option available before the constitutional amendment was to lease property for up to 99 years.

However, with a change in the political landscape in 2015, the Abdulla Yameen led government introduced amendments to the constitution, allowing foreign ownership of property in the Maldives. The amendments appear to be aimed at attracting more foreign investment into a country that is now grappling with the reality of climate change.

The amended law allows anyone who invests more than USD 1 billion to own land in perpetuity, provided that “at least 70% of the land must have been reclaimed from the ocean and visible at medium tide” upon completion of the project.

Since the ratification of the Second Amendment to the Constitution through which these measures were introduced, the Maldives is emerging asa red-hot market for foreign investors. According to the data available on the Ministry of Tourism website, there is a steady increase in the number of tourists arriving in 2015 and it looks like an opportune time to invest in the Maldives’ real estate market, particularly in the hospitality industry.