Rarely. Mexican banks lend readily on built homes and almost never on raw land, and mortgages for foreign buyers are a niche, expensive product from a handful of cross-border lenders. In practice, land buyers pay cash, borrow against equity at home, or take developer financing — ours runs 48 months at 0% interest.
I run the commercial side of Selvadentro, so I have this conversation weekly, and the honest version is shorter than buyers expect: there is no Mexican equivalent of walking into a bank and getting a 30-year loan on a lot. What exists instead is a small set of structures with very different costs. Here they are, including ours, with the parts that are ours labelled as ours.
Why won't Mexican banks lend on raw land?
Because the collateral behaves badly from a lender's point of view. A vacant lot produces no income, is harder to appraise than a house, and is slower to sell if the loan goes bad. The Mexican mortgage market is built around housing you occupy — the big institutional players in housing credit, Infonavit and Fovissste, exist to finance a home to live in, not an investment lot.
Some commercial banks do run schemes for land, and they are worth asking about at your own branch. Expect the pattern that comes with unloved collateral: a large down payment, a shorter term than a housing mortgage, and a rate above one. Two more realities to price in. Peso mortgage rates in Mexico sit well above what US and Canadian borrowers are used to, and a non-resident borrower without Mexican income has a much harder file to approve. Neither is a scandal; it just means the bank route rarely wins on arithmetic.
What are your real options?
| Option | How it works | Rate | Down payment | Speed | Reality check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mexican bank loan on land | Peso loan secured by the lot | Above housing-mortgage rates, in pesos | Large | Slow: appraisal plus a full income file | Uncommon for raw land, harder still without Mexican income |
| Cross-border lender | Specialist lenders serving US and Canadian buyers in Mexico | Higher than a domestic US mortgage | Substantial | Weeks to months | Niche; usually built homes in established markets rather than land |
| Developer financing | Direct with the seller, governed by your contract | Ours: 0% over 48 months | Set in the contract | Fast: no bank underwriting | Only as good as the developer's paperwork and solvency |
| Home-country equity | HELOC or refinance at home, then buy for cash | Your own market's rates | Not applicable | Fast if the line already exists | Cheap money, but the risk moves onto your primary home |
| Cash | Wire and close | None | Not applicable | Fastest | Strongest negotiating position; concentrates capital in one asset |
The table is qualitative on purpose. Rates and terms move, they differ by borrower, and a number invented on a website is worse than no number — ask your own bank and your own lender for live quotes.
How does developer financing actually work?
The developer holds the paper instead of a bank. You sign a contract that names the lot, the price, the currency, the instalment schedule and the penalties on both sides, and you pay directly to the developer's company account — never to a person, as the payments guide explains. Ours at Selvadentro is 48 months with no interest, direct with us.
The illustration below is straight arithmetic on our published from-price of $68,000 USD across 48 interest-free months. The down payment and schedule that apply to you are set in your contract; read this as the shape of the maths, not a quote.
| Illustrative scenario | Down payment | Balance financed | Monthly, 48 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole price financed | — | $68,000 | ~$1,417 |
| 20% down | $13,600 | $54,400 | ~$1,133 |
| 30% down | $20,400 | $47,600 | ~$992 |
| 50% down | $34,000 | $34,000 | ~$708 |
What matters more than the monthly figure is what secures your position while you pay. Ask when title transfers, what happens if you stop paying, what happens if the developer fails, and whether the lot is individually identified in the registry. A serious developer answers all four in writing.
What does 0% interest actually change?
Two things, and it is worth being precise rather than promotional. First, the total you pay equals the price: with no interest, there is no financing cost stacked on top of the land, which is not true of any bank alternative. Second, the price is fixed at signing rather than at the end of the plan — relevant in a market where our own square metre went from $119 USD in May 2025 to $167 today, and where the developer projects $280–360 USD/m² at project close. A projection is a projection; the locked entry price is contractual.
One consequence people miss: at 0%, paying early saves you nothing. There is no interest to avoid, so unless your contract says otherwise, keeping your cash and paying on schedule is the rational move. Check the contract for early-payoff clauses anyway — and check the annual carrying costs that run alongside the instalments, because those start at purchase, not at delivery.
Is borrowing against your home a better idea?
For many buyers it is the cheapest money available: a HELOC or a refinance at your own bank, in your own currency, at rates you already understand, letting you buy in Mexico as a cash buyer. That is a genuinely strong position at the negotiating table.
The trade-off is where the risk sits. The collateral is your primary residence, not the lot, so a bad outcome in Mexico becomes a problem at home. Whether that trade makes sense depends on your rate, your equity and your tolerance — a conversation for your own lender and accountant, not for a developer's website.
What should you verify before accepting any structure?
- The permits behind the project. Financing a lot in a project that cannot deliver title is the most expensive mistake in this market. Our own compliance record, including the September 2025 SEDETUS review, is documented on our legal and permits page; ask any developer for the equivalent.
- Who reviews your contract. Not the notario — a lawyer working for you. The distinction is spelled out in do you need a lawyer if a notario is involved.
- The currency of every instalment, and the exchange reference if the price is in dollars and you pay in pesos.
- Delivery and build timelines, written down. Ours: Suspiro and its amenities in 2029, with cenote and amenity access from the day of purchase.
- What happens on resale mid-plan, if that is part of your thinking.
If you want the pre-construction picture in full — what you are buying before it exists, how to judge it, and where our current lots, prices and payment terms sit — start with pre-construction lots in Tulum. Financing is a structure, not a strategy: get the project right first, then choose how to pay for it.