Buying a home in Portugal in 2026: the step-by-step process

The three sums before you see your first home

Most problems in buying a home don’t come from the home being bad. They come from having seen the home before you did the sums. You go to a viewing, fall for the light in the living room, and only then go to the bank to ask how much they’ll lend you. By then you’re already negotiating with your heart, not with a calculator — and that’s where rejected offers and down payments that don’t stretch far enough come from.

The right order starts with three questions, in this sequence: how much you’re allowed to borrow, how much the home you want actually costs, and how much you, in fact, have available.

The first depends on the debt-to-income ratio — the weight of the monthly payment on your net income, the figure banks use to decide the maximum amount they’ll lend. Banco de Portugal’s macroprudential recommendation points to a debt-to-income ratio (DSTI, debt service-to-income) of up to 50%, and in practice banks prefer more headroom than that. Before you see a single home, run the numbers for different amounts in the mortgage payment calculator and see what slice of your budget each scenario takes up.

The second question — how much it actually costs — is where most people get it wrong, because they count only the home’s price and forget the rest. Take this example: a €250,000 home, habitação própria e permanente/HPP (primary residence) on the mainland, 90% financing (€225,000 borrowed, €25,000 down payment), deed (escritura) at the Casa Pronta (one-stop deed service) desk.

Cost	Value
Down payment (10%)	€25,000
IMT	€7,042.04
Stamp duty on the purchase	€2,000
Stamp duty on the mortgage	€1,350
Registration (Casa Pronta)	€700
Bank valuation	€280
Dossier fee	€300
Total	€36,672.04

You need €36,672.04 available on deed day — not €25,000. It’s this gap, between the down payment and the total, that wrecks more budgets than any building surprise.

If you’re 35 or under, the sums change completely. On a €300,000 home financed at 100% under the regime jovem (under-35 scheme), the total drops to €2,380 — just stamp duty on the mortgage, valuation and dossier fee, because the exemption covers IMT (the property transfer tax), stamp duty on the purchase, and emolumentos (registration fees). Check whether you meet the conditions in the under-35 scheme guide before you build any numbers on top of it.

The third question is the most honest one: how much do you have, today, without counting on savings you might still make before the deed, or on family help that isn’t locked in yet. Only after you’ve answered all three does it make sense to ask the bank for pre-approval — written confirmation of how much they’ll lend you and on what terms, before you sign anything at all. Without it, any offer you make is betting on financing you don’t actually have secured.

House-hunting and the offer: what the caderneta and the certidão say

When you find a home worth pursuing, two documents matter more than anything an agent tells you: the caderneta predial (property tax record) and the certidão permanente (land-registry certificate). The caderneta shows the valor patrimonial tributário, or VPT (the taxable value) — the value the AT (Tax Authority) assigns to the property, which rarely matches the asking price.

This matters because IMT and stamp duty (Imposto do Selo) are charged on the higher of the two values: if the VPT is higher than the agreed price, it’s the VPT you pay on. Ask the seller for the caderneta, or look it up yourself on the Portal das Finanças, before you settle on your offer.

The certidão permanente is the other side of the story: it shows who the legal owner is and, above all, whether there are mortgages, seizures or other charges registered against the property. Without it, you’re buying blind — even if the home looks perfect at the viewing.

The CPCV is the first contract that really counts

A verbal offer or an email exchanged with the agent protects you from nothing. The contrato-promessa de compra e venda, or CPCV (promissory purchase contract), is the first document that creates real obligations on both sides: you promise to buy, the seller promises to sell, and a deposit (sinal) is handed over as a guarantee.

If you pull out without a reason provided for in the contract, you risk losing that deposit; if it’s the seller who pulls out, the law generally requires them to return double. That’s why the most important clause in the CPCV for anyone depending on a mortgage is the financing condition (condição suspensiva de financiamento) — the line that says the contract falls through with no penalty if the bank refuses the loan.

Without that clause, you’re still on the hook for the deposit even if the bank says no. Before you sign anything, go through the guide on what to check in the CPCV — it’s the document where most people sign fast and pay dearly later.

The bank: valuation, the FIN and comparing offers

With the CPCV signed, you enter the bank phase in earnest. The first step is the property valuation, carried out by an independent surveyor hired by the bank, and it costs between €190 and €400. It’s that value — not necessarily the price you paid — that the bank uses to calculate the financing.

Next comes the Ficha de Informação Normalizada, or FIN (standardised loan information sheet), the document that summarises the rate, term, spread, mandatory insurance and all the costs of the loan in a format you can compare across banks. It’s always worth asking more than one bank for a FIN before you decide: differences in spread translate into tens of euros a month, over decades.

If you don’t have the time or patience to visit several branches, there are credit intermediaries registered with Banco de Portugal who compare offers for you. They’re paid by the banks, not by you, and the law requires them to always present you with more than one option.

Booking the deed: IMT is paid in advance

With the loan approved, the next step is booking the deed (escritura) — at the Casa Pronta desk, with a traditional notary, or both if there’s a mortgage to register. Casa Pronta costs €375 with no mortgage attached, or €700 with a mortgage being set up, plus €50 for each additional property in the same deed; a traditional notary typically comes to between €800 and €1,500.

What almost nobody expects is that IMT and the stamp duty on the purchase have to be paid before the deed, not on the day itself. You request the DUC (tax payment slip) on the Portal das Finanças or at a tax office, pay it, and bring the proof with you. Without it, the deed simply doesn’t happen; you can confirm the exact amount in the IMT and stamp duty calculator.

If you’re buying under the regime jovem, confirm before you book a date that you meet all the conditions — no residential property in the last three years, not a tax dependant on that year’s IRS (personal income tax) return, 35 or under on the date of the deed. The exemption depends on you meeting these at that moment, not afterwards.

Deed day

On the day, bring your ID card (cartão de cidadão), proof of paid IMT and the CPCV — and, if there’s a mortgage, the documentation the bank gives you to sign in the same act. The deed, or the “título de compra e venda” (purchase and sale document) in Casa Pronta jargon, formally transfers ownership into your name.

If there’s financing, you also sign the mortgage loan deed (escritura de mútuo com hipoteca), which registers the bank as a creditor over the property. This is the moment you hand over the final cheque — the €36,672.04 from the example, or the equivalent amount for your case — and get the keys. Read before you sign; this isn’t the day for rushed questions about a clause you didn’t understand.

After you have the keys

The purchase doesn’t end at the deed. You need to update your tax address on the Portal das Finanças — that’s where notifications for IMI and everything else get sent.

IMI, the annual property tax, is calculated on the same VPT you already saw on the caderneta, at a rate each municipality sets between 0.3% and 0.45% (CIMI, art. 112) — most councils apply the minimum. If the building has a condomínio (shared building management), this is also when you start dealing with the monthly charges and the owners’ meetings; it’s worth having asked for the minutes of recent years before signing the CPCV, not after you have the keys, so you know whether there’s planned work that’s going to hit your wallet.

Your next calculation

All these sums — down payment, taxes, registration, valuation — change depending on the home’s price, the percentage financed, and whether or not you qualify for the regime jovem. Before you book your first viewing, swap the numbers in this example for your own and see the real total you’ll need in the bank on deed day.