Bill would prevent foreign banks from buying Montana homes
A bill to prevent foreign governments, banks and companies from buying up residential Montana land for sale at public auctions passed the state Senate on second reading, 47-to-2.
Senate Bill 306, sponsored by Sen. Ken Bogner, R-Miles City, would require an entity to prove they're based in the United States before a county treasurer is allowed to sell a residential tax lien.
'Montana lands and homes should belong to Montanans and Americans, not foreign entities,' Bogner said. 'Our tax deed process has left the door open for foreign entities to buy up property at the expense of Montanans.'
The bill would disallow foreign companies from buying Montana housing off auction. The changes would not apply to foreign individuals, Bogner said.
About 85,000 homes were sold nationally to non-Americans between April 2022 to March 2023, a drop of nearly 15% from the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Bogner brought a similar bill preventing 'adversarial' foreign governments and corporations from buying agricultural land during the 2023 Legislature. The law came in the wake of a Chinese balloon that floated across the country, capturing the nation's attention. It was passed and signed into law, directly targeting the governments of China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela as well as corporations in those countries.
SB 306 expands on the 2023 bill and applies the ban to all foreign entities.
'Our property values are going up and up and it's harder and harder to purchase a home, pay property taxes,' Bogner told the Daily Montanan. 'We don't need foreign banks buying up property and making the problem worse.'
In 2021, about 916,000 acres of land in the state was owned by non-American entities, an increase of about 100,000 acres from the previous year.
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