Buying a Home in Portugal

I bought my home here after renting for a few years, and the part that surprised me most wasn't finding the property: it was the sequence. There's a natural order: sort out the tax number and the bank, secure the financing, sign the promissory contract with the deposit, do due diligence on the paperwork and, only at the end, the escritura. Each step has its own cost. I'll walk through all of them.

The figures I cite are for 2026 and are confirmed in the official sources at the end of the article. All of this changes with the State Budget (Orçamento do Estado), so treat the numbers as a starting point, not gospel.

First of all: NIF and a bank account

You can't buy anything in Portugal without a NIF (tax identification number). It's required for the escritura, for the mortgage, for everything. If you don't have one yet, sort it out first. We have a guide just for that. Next, open a Portuguese bank account: you'll need it for the payments, and if you're going to apply for a mortgage, that's where the bank runs the process.

Financing and pre-approval

If you're paying cash, skip to the CPCV. If you're applying for a mortgage, start with pre-approval before making offers. The bank reviews your income and gives you an indicative amount: that way you know how much you can offer without getting left hanging.

Two numbers rule the mortgage. The first is how much the bank lends: usually up to 90% of the lower of the purchase price and the valuation the bank itself commissions. The remaining 10% (plus taxes and fees) comes out of your pocket. The second is the rate. Most mortgages are indexed to the Euribor plus a bank spread; there are also fixed and mixed rates. The spread is negotiable and varies a lot depending on the bank, your profile and the products you accept (insurance, having your salary paid into the account).

35 or under? You may finance up to 100%

Until 31 December 2026, the State acts as guarantor for up to 15% of the price, which lets banks finance up to 100% of a first permanent own home for buyers aged 18 to 35 (Decreto-Lei 44/2024). The main conditions: purchase price up to €450,000, income up to the 8th IRS bracket, not owning another home and not having used the guarantee before. Not every bank embraced it with the same appetite, so ask directly. It stacks with the young-buyer IMT and Imposto do Selo exemption covered below, in the costs.

Mortgages for non-residents

If you live abroad, banks lend less: as a rule 60% to 70% of the lower of price and valuation, sometimes a little more for EU residents earning in euros, with terms up to 30 years. In practice, plan for 30% to 40% of your own capital once taxes and fees are counted. The process is otherwise the same: NIF, a Portuguese account, plus income documents from the country where you live (tax returns, payslips, bank statements). Several banks have dedicated non-resident lines, and spreads tend to run a little higher. Test the monthly numbers in the mortgage simulator before you commit to a price range.

The CPCV and the deposit

Once the offer is accepted, you sign the CPCV, the promissory contract of purchase and sale (contrato-promessa de compra e venda). It's the document that binds both parties to the deal while the mortgage and the paperwork are sorted. The CPCV sets out the price, the deadline for the escritura, what's included and, above all, the deposit.

The deposit is normally 10% of the price and is paid when the CPCV is signed. It's no small detail: it's the guarantee of the deal. Article 442 of the Civil Code sets out the rules clearly.

1. 1
   The buyer backs out
   If it's the buyer's fault, they lose the deposit they paid. The seller keeps it.
2. 2
   The seller backs out
   The seller returns the deposit in double: that's the sinal em dobro.
3. 3
   Force the sale instead
   The non-defaulting party can ask a court for specific performance (execução específica) and force the deal through.

Due diligence: the paperwork

This is the unglamorous part that heads off the nightmares. Before going ahead, I would check (or ask a lawyer/solicitor to check) four documents:

• Caderneta predial (property tax record): the property's tax record at Finanças (the tax authority). It states who the owner is for tax purposes, the description and the taxable asset value (VPT).
• Certidão permanente de registo predial (land registry certificate): who really owns it and what encumbrances exist: mortgages, seizures, usufructs. This is where you find out whether the house has debts hanging over it.
• Licença de utilização (use licence, from the Câmara Municipal): confirms the property can be used as housing. Without it, serious problems.
• Certificado energético (energy certificate): mandatory in order to sell; it shows the energy rating. Its absence is, in itself, a red flag.

If any of these documents doesn't add up (areas that don't match, unlicensed building work, an encumbrance nobody mentioned), it's better to know before the deposit than after.

The escritura (the deed)

The escritura (the formal sale) is the last step: it's where ownership passes into your name. It can be done at a cartório notarial (a notary's office), at a Casa Pronta counter (a registry service that bundles the deed and registrations into a single act) or through lawyers and solicitors with authentication powers. When there's a mortgage, the bank usually schedules and organises everything.

1. 1
   Pay the taxes first
   IMT and Imposto do Selo (stamp duty) must be paid before the escritura. You bring the proof to the signing.
2. 2
   Sign the escritura
   Both parties (and the bank, if there's a mortgage) sign. The remaining price is transferred.
3. 3
   Register the purchase
   The acquisition (and the mortgage) are registered in your name. Casa Pronta does this in the same act.

Buying remotely

None of the steps actually requires you to be in Portugal. The NIF can be requested through a representative, several banks open accounts remotely, and both the CPCV and the escritura can be signed on your behalf. What makes it all work is a procuração (power of attorney), usually given to the lawyer running your purchase.

There are three ways to issue one: at a Portuguese consulate in the country where you live; before a local notary, adding a Hague apostille and a certified translation into Portuguese; or digitally, if you hold Portuguese digital identification. Whichever route, make it a procuração with specific powers (request a NIF, open an account, sign the CPCV and the escritura), not general ones.

Since 2022 there is also a fully online route: escrituras and Casa Pronta procedures can be done by videoconference, on the justice ministry's Plataforma de Atendimento à Distância. The catch: it requires a Cartão de Cidadão or a Chave Móvel Digital with the digital signature active, so it mostly serves citizens and residents. Foreigners without Portuguese digital ID end up on the procuração route, and it works fine.

One practical note about the money: payments come out of your Portuguese account, and the bank will ask where the funds came from, especially when they arrive from outside the EU. Have the paper trail ready (sale of another property, savings, salary) and count on days, not hours, for international transfers to clear. Sort this out well before the escritura date.

The costs: who pays what

The one who bears the bulk of the transaction costs is the buyer. The agent's commission, on the other hand, is normally the seller's. Here's what comes from your side:

IMT, the big one

The IMT (Imposto Municipal sobre as Transmissões Onerosas de Imóveis, the municipal property transfer tax) is the largest charge and the one that varies most. It applies to the higher of the price and the VPT, on progressive brackets. For a permanent own home on the mainland, in 2026, there's no IMT up to €106,346; above that, marginal rates of 2%, 5%, 7% and 8% apply up to €660,982, with flat rates of 6% and 7.5% at the highest values. The calculation uses an amount to deduct, so the best way to know the exact figure is with a simulator.

There's one important benefit: buyers aged 35 or under purchasing their first permanent own home get full exemption from IMT and Imposto do Selo up to €330,539 (2026 figure) and partial relief between €330,539 and €660,982. Above that, there's no benefit. The exemption is applied for at the Autoridade Tributária: online, at a Finanças office or through the services handling the escritura.

Imposto do Selo (stamp duty)

You pay Imposto do Selo twice: 0.8% on the purchase price and, if there's a mortgage, 0.6% on the amount financed when the term is five years or more (0.5% if it's under five years). On a house with a mortgage, the two add up.

Registrations and the escritura

There are two channels. Via Predial Online, the registration per act is around €225 (acquisition and mortgage count as separate acts). Via Casa Pronta, which bundles the escritura and registrations at a single counter, one act costs €375 and a process with more than one act, the usual case of a purchase with a mortgage (acquisition + mortgage), costs €700 in total. The preference-right notice costs €15. On top of these come small fees (copies of the contract, authentications). If you go through a cartório, the notário's fees are separate. Young buyers with the IMT exemption (aged 35 or under, first home) are exempt from these registration fees.

A worked example

Take a €250,000 house on the mainland, permanent own home, with a 90% mortgage (€225,000). IMT: €7,042. Imposto do Selo on the purchase: €2,000. Imposto do Selo on the loan: €1,350. Casa Pronta with mortgage: €700. Bank fees: around €700. That is roughly €11,800 in taxes and fees on top of the €25,000 down payment: about €37,000 in cash before the keys, plus around 1% + VAT if you hire a lawyer. Now the same house bought by someone aged 35 or under: the exemption wipes out the €7,042 of IMT, the €2,000 of purchase Selo and the registration fees, and with the State guarantee the down payment itself can fall to zero.

To add it all up for your specific figure (IMT, the two Imposto do Selo charges and the registrations), use the cost calculator. It's the honest way to know, before signing the CPCV, how much the house is really going to cost you.

After the purchase: the costs that stay

The buying costs end at the escritura; these do not. The main one is IMI (Imposto Municipal sobre Imóveis, the annual municipal property tax): 0.3% to 0.45% of the VPT, at a rate each municipality sets. Check your municipality's rate in the municipal tax table and the resulting bill in the IMI calculator. One exemption worth knowing: 3 years without IMI when the VPT is up to €125,000 and the household's gross income is up to €153,300, usable at most twice per household.

On top of that come the AIMI if your housing VPTs sum past €600,000 per owner, the condomínio in an apartment building, and the two insurances that travel with a mortgage (life and multi-risk). Re-quote those insurances every year or two: switching insurer is allowed and often pays for itself.