Bank valued the home below the price? What it costs you

The offer is accepted, the CPCV is signed, and then the bank's valuation report comes back: the flat you agreed to buy for €300,000 is worth €280,000 in the bank's eyes. Nothing is wrong with the house. But your mortgage has just shrunk, and the difference has to come out of your own pocket.

Why the valuation, not the price, sets your loan

Banco de Portugal's macroprudential recommendation caps the loan-to-value ratio at 90% for your own permanent home and 80% for any other purpose, which includes buying as a non-resident. The value it uses is the lower of the purchase price and the bank's valuation. If the valuation comes in under the price, the bank lends a percentage of the lower figure, and every euro of the gap is cash you need on top of the deposit you planned.

Why it happens more often now

Valuations follow the market, but with a lag. INE's survey of bank valuations put the median at €2,278 per square metre in September 2026, 14.2% more than a year earlier. Asking prices in the busiest areas often run ahead of that, especially for renovated flats sold with a premium for finishes that a valuer only partly counts. So a gap between price and valuation is not a sign that something is wrong with the property. It is a sign that the price includes more than the bank is willing to finance.

Four ways to respond

• Renegotiate with the report in hand. The valuation is an independent figure, not your opinion. The seller does not have to accept it, but a buyer whose financing depends on it has a concrete reason to ask for a lower price.
• Ask another bank. Each bank orders its own valuation and the fee is normally paid by the client, so a second opinion costs money and time. It is worth it when the gap is large.
• Cover the gap with your own money. Only if you still keep a reserve after taxes and the first months of instalments. Emptying your savings to close the deal is how a good purchase becomes a stressful one.
• Check the financing clause in the CPCV. If the promissory contract makes the purchase conditional on getting the loan, a refused or reduced mortgage can be a way out without losing the deposit. Without such a clause, the deposit paid at signing is at risk.

Before your next offer

Whenever the timing allows, get the bank's valuation before you sign the CPCV, or at least agree a deadline long enough for the report to come back. Plan your own money as if the valuation came in below the price, so that a low report is an inconvenience and not a crisis.

For non-residents the numbers are tighter still: see the 30-40% deposit nobody budgeted for. What changed for every borrower on 1 August is in the 1 August mortgage rules, and the whole process is in mortgages for foreigners in Portugal.

Re-locant.com is a free, independent guide. We are not a bank or a broker: check your own numbers with the bank before you commit.