The reform to Article 132 of the Mexico City (CDMX) Tax Code, through which the government requires owners of residential properties with a cadastral value exceeding 4.5 million pesos to submit information to the Ministry of Finance about the status of their properties, has increased distrust in the real estate sector primarily due to the potential use that could be put to the requested information.
For Fernando Rodríguez Bustamante, a member of the Council of Professional Real Estate Agents of the Real Estate Innovation and Transformation Cluster (CITI), although this declaration is voluntary, he emphasized that taxpayers must complete the acceptance or denial process each year.
“If they decline to submit the report, they must go to the Ministry of Finance’s website, search for the form, and select the option ‘I refuse to share the information.’ Otherwise, they could be subject to a penalty,” he commented in an interview.
The government reported that the declaration applies to 3% of all registered property tax accounts. Data from the firm 4S Real Estate shows that 13,700 homes were sold in Mexico City through mortgage loans in 2024, of which 3,294 belong to the premium residential segment (valued at more than 4 million pesos).
An attack on private property?
For Bustamante, the Mexico City government has not issued legislation that explicitly attacks private property; however, he considered initiatives such as the cadastral declaration to be attempts to restrict the free exercise of property rights.
The approval of this regulation has affected the confidence of the real estate sector in the Mexican capital, which has been experiencing a crisis since the pandemic in 2020, the government elections in 2024, and the tariffs and reforms in 2025.
“The sector is resilient; there is movement, although we see more in rentals than in home sales. This situation is the result of political signals that have been taken lightly with reforms to combat gentrification and high prices, but which have not been thought through and only serve to increase uncertainty among the population and discourage investment,” the specialist added.
In the words of the CITI spokesperson, the statement raises doubts and fears about the authorities’ true purpose in obtaining information on luxury properties, especially amid the government’s social housing campaign.
Likewise, Diego Garrido, a local representative for the National Action Party (PAN), argued that requesting data from property owners is a violation of the right to privacy, as it could put people’s safety at risk.
“The mayor, Clara Brugada, promised to build 200,000 homes, but there isn’t enough space. All of this raises red flags regarding the direction the Morena party is heading in terms of legal concepts and the right to private property,” said the legislator.
Calls to Eliminate the Declaration
In addition to questions about the risk in the use of information that property owners may provide, Bustamante highlighted contradictions in the initiative for the cadastral declaration of luxury properties in Mexico City.
“The law was created to request this information from property owners, but the rules state it is voluntary; in other words, they contradict each other. It doesn’t make sense; it’s something that even we lawyers don’t fully understand,” Bustamante said.
That’s why, through an initiative in the Mexico City Congress, the local PAN representative is seeking the repeal of the paragraph in the Tax Code that establishes the requirement for property owners to report their properties.
Source: eleconomista
