CFIUS farmland oversight expansion, state foreign-buyer restrictions
Congress is weighing bills to compel CFIUS review of foreign purchases of U.S. farmland, even as multiple states have already restricted certain foreign buyers of real estate.
Two House- and Senate-pending bills would require CFIUS to review foreign investments in U.S. agriculture, including farmland, layering a federal regime on top of existing FIRRMA real-estate authority. Treasury's November 1, 2024 final rule already expanded CFIUS coverage by adding dozens of military installations to the list of sensitive real-estate geographies, broadening non-notified review reach. Independently, states such as Florida have enacted restrictions on certain foreign nationals acquiring real property, with several of those laws facing constitutional challenges in court. Sophisticated counsel advising cross-border investors, REITs, agribusiness acquirers, and sovereign-wealth funds should map transaction footprints against both the federal installation radius lists and state-level ownership rules before signing. Watch for Senate action on the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act and state-court rulings on the constitutionality of the existing ownership bans.