What will buying property in Portugal really cost you?

What the calculator adds up

The price in the listing is never what a purchase really costs. Our calculator takes the price you enter and adds every one-off cost a typical home purchase in Portugal carries: IMT (the property transfer tax), Imposto do Selo (stamp duty), the notary and land registry, a lawyer and, for non-residents, a fiscal representative. If you choose a mortgage, it also adds the bank's valuation, its arrangement fee, stamp duty on the loan and the mortgage deed. The result is the cash you need on the day, plus an estimate of the yearly IMI (municipal property tax) you will pay afterwards.

IMT: the biggest line, and it depends on who you are

IMT is where most of the difference between buyers comes from. The calculator asks two questions because the law does.

Tax residents pay progressive rates. There are two tables: one for a home that will be your own permanent residence (habitação própria e permanente) and a slightly higher one for any other home, such as a second home or a buy-to-let. The marginal rates below apply only to the part of the price inside each band; in the two "flat" bands the single rate applies to the whole price.

Non-residents pay a flat 7.5% IMT on any residential property, with no exemption or reduction (CIMT article 17(10), introduced by Decreto-Lei 97/2026). The law makes three exceptions: you have been treated as a Portuguese tax resident, you become one within two years of buying, or the home is let as a long-term residence at a moderate rent (up to €2,300 a month in 2026) within six months and for at least 36 months in the first five years. In the last two cases you pay 7.5% first and then ask the tax office to cancel the difference within six months. The calculator applies the flat 7.5% to every non-resident, so if one of these exceptions fits your plan, treat the result as the upper end.

IMT Jovem. Buyers aged 35 or under, who are not someone else's tax dependant and have not owned a residential property in the previous three years, pay no IMT on a first own permanent home up to €330,539; between €330,539 and €660,982 only the part above €330,539 is taxed at 8%. The same regime also exempts the 0.8% Imposto do Selo. The calculator does not apply IMT Jovem, so if you qualify, subtract both lines yourself.

Imposto do Selo (stamp duty)

Imposto do Selo is 0.8% of the purchase price for everyone. With a mortgage of five years or more there is a second charge of 0.6% on the loan amount. Both come from the official stamp duty table, and the calculator uses exactly these rates.

Notary, registry and lawyer

These are not percentages, and they are not fixed tariffs either. The calculator uses €900 for the escritura and land registration (roughly €500–800 for the deed plus €250–400 for the registry), €1,100 for a lawyer (typically €700–1,500 for a standard purchase) and €200 for a fiscal representative if you are a non-resident. Ask for written quotes: a complex purchase, such as a rural plot or an unlicensed extension, costs more.

Bank costs if you take a mortgage

With the mortgage option on, the calculator adds a bank valuation (€350; banks usually charge €300–600), an arrangement fee of 0.75% of the loan (usually 0.5–1%), the 0.6% stamp duty on the loan and €300 for the mortgage deed and its registration. Your down payment appears in place of the full price. For the monthly payment itself, use our mortgage calculator.

Worked example: a €300,000 flat

The resident's IMT is €300,000 × 7% minus the €10,458 deduction for that band. If the same resident bought it as a second home, IMT would be €11,606 and the extras about 5.3%. If the non-resident borrows 70% (€210,000), the bank adds €3,485 (valuation €350, fee €1,575, loan stamp duty €1,260, deed €300), and the cash needed on the day becomes €120,585: a €90,000 deposit plus €30,585 in costs.

A rule of thumb, and what comes after

Older guides quote "6–8% on top of the price". Today it depends on your status: roughly 5% for a resident buying a mid-priced own home, about 9% for a non-resident, plus about 1% more with a mortgage. After the purchase, IMI is charged every year at 0.3–0.45% of the property's tax value (VPT), at a rate set by each municipality. We estimate the VPT at 80% of the price and use 0.35%, which gives €840 a year on €300,000. Your caderneta predial shows the real figure. Condominium fees vary too much by building to estimate.