Back in September, the Danish media wrote The Weekendsavisen a story that businessman Jørgen Wæver Johannsen’s newly established company Inuit Properties Greenland Aps. had bought a property in Nuuk with a transfer from the American company Greenland Development Partners LCC.
The story set off a major debate about who can actually buy properties and whether the legislation is good enough to ensure that the housing stock remains in Greenlandic hands.
Sermitsiaq therefore contacted the Department for Housing, Infrastructure, Outlying Districts and Preparedness as well as the Department for Business, Raw Materials, Energy, the Judiciary and Gender Equality to hear what the legislation actually says about foreigners’ opportunities to buy up properties, for example via representatives.
The department does not comment on specific cases, but says that if a construction actually aims to circumvent the law’s limitations, the acquisition of properties may be invalid.
Legislation
The rules on the acquisition of real estate in Greenland can be seen from Inatsisart Act No. 78 of 21 November 2025.
Among other things, it states that only Danish citizens can acquire ownership rights or right of use to real estate in Greenland. However, persons without Danish citizenship can also do so if they have had a permanent residence and civil registry address in Greenland for at least 2 years and have been fully liable for tax in Greenland for at least 2 years.
Companies wishing to buy real estate must be owned or managed by persons with Danish citizenship or by persons who meet the requirements of the law.
Capital companies with their registered office in Greenland can also acquire real estate without the permission of Naalakkersuisut, if the entire capital of the company is owned and all voting rights are exercised directly by persons who meet the conditions in the law.
All other persons and companies must have Naalakkersuisut’s prior written permission.
Straw men or deputies
The Act also contains a provision in Section 13 that must prevent circumvention of the rules. According to the provision, legal transactions which must be assumed to have been entered into with the aim of circumventing the rules of the law are invalid.
It appears from the legal comments that circumvention can, for example, be done by using deputies or so-called straw men who formally meet the conditions of the law. When assessing whether there is circumvention, emphasis can be placed, among other things, on the basis of the agreement, the payment and financing conditions and the parties involved.
“It is thus not only decisive who is formally the owner of the company or the property. If a construction really aims to circumvent the limitations of the law, the acquisition may be invalid”, writes the Department for Housing, Infrastructure, Outlying Districts and Emergency Services to Sermitsiaq.
Furthermore, they write that “As far as the issue of extensive acquisitions is concerned, the law does not contain a general ceiling on how many properties a person or company that meets the conditions of the law can acquire. One of the purposes of the law, however, is to prevent the formation of prices and the supply of real estate in Greenland from being shifted by outside investments to the detriment of the resident population.”
Conditions can be investigated further
According to the ministry, there will always be a risk of someone trying to circumvent the legislation, including by using company structures where the formal owner is not necessarily the real party behind the acquisition.
“It is precisely such situations that section 13 of the law on circumvention is intended to counter.”
In addition, the department writes that “if they become aware of specific conditions that give rise to suspicion of circumvention of the legislation, the conditions will be investigated and assessed in accordance with the provisions of the law.”
Sermitsiaq has asked professor of financial management at Aalborg University, Per Nikolaj Bukh, whether the legislation is reassuring if the purpose is to ensure control that the housing stock stays in Greenlandic hands and in particular does not end up in American hands, and that the market and the pricing of housing are not influenced by foreign capital interests.
– It is not an unregulated area. There is control over who may and who may not buy properties. But it is clear that various kinds of gray areas can arise if someone wants to abuse it. But I don’t feel worried, says Per Nikolaj Bukh, who denies that an American company may have suddenly bought up several properties via representatives without it being discovered.
– As a starting point, I think that deals that circumvent the law in this way will be discovered quickly, and then the authorities will have the opportunity to intervene, says Per Nikolaj Bukh.
Raw material companies’ purchases must be approved
Sermitsiaq has also received a reply from the Department for Business, Raw Materials, Energy, the Justice Area and Gender Equality, as raw materials companies with a license in Greenland can well acquire properties, including service housing. However, any purchase must be approved by Naalakkersuisut.
“Rightholders according to the mineral legislation are exempt from the Inatsisart Act on the acquisition of access or right of use to real property, according to § 7 of this act, but according to the mineral legislation, all activities of a right holder, including the acquisition of access or right of use to real property, must be approved by Naalakkersuisut.”
According to the Ministry of Business and Natural Resources, rights holders under the natural resources legislation regularly acquire access or right of use to real property for various purposes in connection with natural resources activities. But approval has not yet been given for the acquisition of properties for, for example, a director, writes the Ministry of Mineral Resources.
“In principle, this could well be a service home for a director, but no approval appears to have been given for the acquisition of properties for this purpose”, reads the response from the department.
