Portugal now charges non-residents a flat 7.5% transfer tax.

For comparison, a Portuguese tax resident buying that same €300,000 home pays roughly €11,790 in IMT under the progressive scale. The non-resident pays about €10,700 more for the identical property.

Budget 8 to 9% of the price in taxes alone, before professional fees.

The two ways back to the old rates

The law is not quite as absolute as the headline rate suggests. You can ask the tax authority to cancel the difference between the 7.5% you paid and the standard progressive rates in two situations:

1. You become a Portuguese tax resident within two years of the purchase.
2. You put the property into moderate-rent long-term housing, the affordable-rental route the same package created.

Both are claims made after the fact, so the cash still leaves your account at completion. Treat the refund as a possible later credit, not as a discount on the day.

Why the change exists

The flat rate is one piece of "Build Portugal", the housing package submitted to Parliament in December 2025. The stated aim is to increase housing supply and improve access for residents. Whatever you make of the policy, the practical effect for a foreign buyer is simple: the entry cost of Portuguese residential property went up, and it went up only for you.

What this changes about a purchase

The tax is now a bigger line than the agency fee. On a €500,000 property, IMT and stamp duty together are €41,500. Any yield calculation that was built on the old progressive scale is out of date, because the money you sink into the purchase before you own anything has grown.

Price per square metre matters more than it did. A flat rate does not care what you buy, so the tax is a fixed 7.5% drag whether you buy well or badly. The savings have to come from the price you negotiate.

Check the status of any figure you were shown before June. Listings, brochures and calculators built earlier in the year may still quote the progressive IMT. On Onora, every figure on a listing is published by the seller and labelled, so you can see what it includes. If the acquisition costs on a Portuguese listing look like the old scale, ask.

If you want this checked against your own situation, the specialist directory lists notaries, lawyers and tax advisors who work with foreign buyers in Portugal. Onora is a marketplace, not an advisor: we publish the listings and connect you to the seller directly, and the tax position on your purchase is a question for a professional in the country. See our disclaimer.

Rates and rules described here are those in force in September 2026 and can change. Confirm the current position before you commit to a purchase.

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