Proposed Bill Would Increase Scrutiny of Real Estate Purchases by ‘Foreign Entities of Concern’

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A bipartisan effort is underway in the U.S. House of Representatives to expand the authority of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) over real estate purchases by certain foreign entities deemed to pose national security threats.

According to a Reuters report, Reps. Blake Moore (R-UT) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) are planning to introduce legislation to widen CFIUS’ jurisdiction to enable reviews of U.S. real estate acquisitions by designated “foreign entities of concern” including China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. The reviews would focus on property transactions of 100 acres or more or $1 million or more in value, or if CFIUS believed the transactions were structured to evade federal scrutiny.

The legislation would also allow CFIUS, is a Treasury-led inter-agency committee, to scrutinize existing real estate holdings.

“We need to have official national security experts review these land purchases with clear-eyed expertise, and without fear or favor,” Slotkin said.

Last July, 15 House lawmakers introduced legislation that would expand CFIUS reviews to nearly all Chinese property purchases and ratchet up CFIUS reviews of Chinese acquisitions around national security sites, critical infrastructure, and farmland. Several states have enacted their own laws blocking acquisition and ownership of real estate by Chinese entities.